A Different Psyche (Currently Under Reconstruction)
by Zeta Grey
Summary: This is an AU where the Pines Twins are born earlier, it's also where Mabel is the favorite between them and Dipper is put through an interesting scenario. (Undergoing Reconstruction.)
1. A Different Psyche: Prologue

Prologue: The Beginning

 ****

 **(This is what I have for the beginning, don't expect so much as this is only my second story, and I have also got to worry about the first story I made: Down a Different Road, so there's that, also I'd like people to enjoy the scenarios I put down, so please review, Comment, and give suggestions to my current stories, the next chapters will be out soon. -Thank you, and enjoy :D .)**

 **(P.S. I might or might not add Pincest waaay down the road and I don't plan to introduce any other character's except for Dipper for most of the chapters, if you don't care for this type of story then don't bother reading, this type of story mostly takes place following Dipper explaining how most of his life played out differently. I got my insperation a long time ago after watching: The midnight Show's Home Invasion.)**

-Slam- "Thought you could get away without your scheduled beating Pines?" mocked the cliché bully at the beginning of certain stories. "What do you want now David?" groaned a battered and bruised dipper, slowly standing before being headbutted square in the forehead, dropping Dipper back to the dirt. "Oh you KNOW what I want, I want you to pay for getting in the way of my love for Mabel… and when I'm done, Mabel will finally see how perfect we are for each other."

Dipper looked up to one of his many tormentors, this one having a strange obsession with his sister… he was one of the tallest kids in school, had buck teeth and red hair, dressed in his usual 'nerdy' attire, it surprisingly helps him stay out of trouble, since no one would believe a nerd beat the crap out of him… it was a huge blow to his ego to say the least.

Which sparked something in him, something larger than he could even begin to imagine… it was a wave of emotional rage that had been bottled inside him ever since his sister was apparently the favourite twin between the pair… to say it hurt finding out was a complete understatement, for he was emotionally crushed.

It didn't help that his own sister decided to take advantage of this newly found depression, making him do her chores and bullying him as much as the other kids had, even going as far as to kick him around, much like David was doing just now.

Then there was his ex-best friend Jacob and ex-crush Katie, it turned out they had been dating secretly… he found out after confessing to her some time after school… which had practically disintegrated his social life, humiliating him completely and utterly when she told the whole school and completely spit on his confidence as a person. It also turned out his supposed 'best friend' had been using him from the start, telling him his simple plan to take Katie for herself just to spite Dipper.

Everyone at this school, no, this entire town mocked him… and he wasn't going to just sit here and take it. 'No!' he yelled at himself mentally. 'Don't do this Dipper, be the bigger man, that's what Michael always taug-' -Wham- he was again kicked in the face by his current tormentor… and he snapped.

For the next few minutes his Rage blinded him, all he saw was red as he gave into blind-rage, releasing all of it into critically-crippling blows. He was done, done with his family, done with his backstabbing friend and ex-crush, and especially done with David. A few minutes passed before he had felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and sucker punched a teacher attempting to stop the beat-down, taking a fully loaded fist straight to the throat, followed by an uppercut from the other hand.

He then went back to David to continue his assault, but found he didn't have the strength to continue, he panted and coughed, before coming down from his emotional high… and realizing what he had done.

He looked back to David, taking the sight of his broken fetal position, before looking back at the teacher he decked out, it was Mr. Mosbi, one of his teachers… and he knocked him down a few pegs from his high and mighty throne of self-confidence, what made it better was that Dipper had noodle arms for muscles.

Thinking about where he found himself, he decided that he should probably just leave for the day, and when he came back tomorrow he'd act like nothing happened, after all… Mr. Mosbi had a very large ego indeed, so if anyone found out he was taken down in two punches, by one of the weakest students in school… he'd be utterly humiliated… so he dragged them both into the ladies room, and hurried home, being sure to go through the route the other bullies always waited… he would make them think twice before they even looked in his direction ever again.

And that's exactly what he did, moving away from yet another pile of half-naked groaning children in his wake that day, before finally reaching his own doorstep, ready to take on his sister… before he went through with it though, he felt ashamed of even beginning to think of harming his own sister, as stupid as it sounded, he still cared about his only sibling.

So he backed out, walking back over to his new 'room' his sister 'assigned' him, simply put it was the old shed in the back of the house with rust and leaks littered over the damn thing. He stepped inside his relatively safe room, skipping dinner, and dropping the sack of clothes he thought looked nice from his would-be attackers, going through the motions of his new life.


	2. Chapter 1: The First Step

Chapter #1: The Beginning

A few years later he was in middle school, people picked on him less now, he had taken to wearing a beanie with a neon blue anarchy symbol as it's emblem, he wore dark green cargo pants and a ash grey tank top, also having a neon blue anarchy symbol on them with suspenders and a black hoodie wrapped around his hips with black combat boots, and to top it all off, he also had steampunk-styled welding goggles hanging around his neck.

He was a bit more muscular than when he was littler, yet still maintained a slim form, he was also the most violent kid in the district, even leaving 2 or 6 officers with a few crippled limbs on different occasions, one day he was sitting in class and (his gut instincts telling him to bail.) decided he needed to use the restroom for a little while.

While he was in the men's room, he heard an alarm go off, the alarm was a 'security alert' as it seemed someone was going to start a shoot-out in the school, he poked his head into the hallway just enough to see 2 other student's turn traitor waltzing down the hall dressed in gym clothes and masks, one holding a 9mm pistol and the other a machete, with an AK47 strapped on his back.

Dipper was, for the most part, unconcerned, and waited for the approaching hostiles, seconds later the one with the machete started to walk past when he grabbed a knife from his shorts sheathe and drove it up into his arm socket, he let out a shriek of pain that alerted his companion, who yanked the machete from him and drove it towards Dipper. he didn't hesitate to pull away the knife, deflect the machete sideways with the back of his free hands palm, and planted the knife right into the wrist with the pistol, seeing that his attacker was bringing it up to fire.

"Hey asshat." Dipper snarled at his opponent. "Don't bring a gun to a knife fight." and with that, he pulled his upper body, and tripped him into the water fountain, then picked the gun up as he went, and fired into his exposed spine 2 times, the newly made cripple shrieked in pain before he was silenced when shock had caught up to him.

Dipper hadn't forgotten his first target, dropping down and swinging around, effectively dodging a failed surprise attack from the attackers good arm, and pistol whipping him, sending him sprawling to the floor in a fit of pain. Dipper quickly took his advantage and set his body weight through his knee as he sat on the back of the aggressor's neck and pressing the pistol to the back of his dome. "Speak." ordered Dipper, in a calm tone, pressing the still hot muzzle into the back of his neck. "Ahhh!~" yelled his victim. "Good boy! But I need words this time." he patronized as a quick interrogation took effect.

He quickly learned from his assailant that 'Dipper was an asshole and could go die in a hole alone.' however this wasn't anything new to Dipper, he had at this point started to get bored of the interrogation after several failed attempts to ask politely, cocking the gun and was about to blow a cap into his knee when the attacker relented fearfully, also finding out that there were a few others in the school, better armed than them, finally he found out that most of them were actually a few students in the school that had planned this little revolt for a month.

To say he was impressed… couldn't be further from the truth, they weren't even organised, and their combat experience was worse than amateur, hell he pretty much got all the info he asked and more, where was the fucking discipline in combat these days… well he supposed that was what the world was filled with anyway's, but still though, what a disappointment.

He finished his interrogation with a quick and relatively painless knock to the head with the back of the pistol, knocking his victim out, before dragging them both into a maintenance closet, and locking it. He proceeded to hunt down the rest of the attackers, effectively cutting one off from a large group of evacuating students, he even saved his ex-best friend and ex-crush from another that snuck in the bathroom while they were in a make-out session or some shit, and although he looked relieved to save them he truly just didn't want their deaths on his conscience.

They looked horrified at what they had just witnessed, probably assuming Dipper was the attacker, and that he was here for his revenge, Katie was quick to push Jacob out of the stall with a shriek of fear and proceeded to lock him outside with Dipper and the attacker, he turned back in a panic and banged on the door rappidly, when he attempted to crawl under the stall door she kicked him in the face repeatedly. 'at least she didn't have any heels on today.' Shrugged Dipper as he struggled to drag the unconscious body from off the sink counter and across the room.

Jacob crawled back away from the stall and stood up straight, teeth bared at Dipper and several bruises on him from the beating he received, the shiner she left wasn't so bad either. "Stay away, I-I'll fight back Dip-shit! I swear I'll-." he stopped when he noticed Dipper wasn't paying him any mind and continued dragging the body out the door. "Hey! Hey I'm talking to you loser! Yelled the egotistical backstabber.

Dipper went over to a pipe that usually stuck out of the wall, and started using the attacker's own belt to tie his arms above his head, when he turned around he was met with none other than Jacob, anger and confusion evident on his face. " Are you seriously ignoring me? Hey! dont ignore me fuckwad!" Dipper considered this for a moment before shaking his head and muttering his way down the hall, quickly losing his likely future stalker.

A few hallways away later and Dipper started to regret not taking that AK from the first group of students, it would have helped him fight, if not at least intimidate them into surrendering, shrugging off the fact he could have used it, he continued through the halls to search for the last stragglers.

He did interrogate that one idiot in the gym clothes from earlier, but he had grown careless and underestimated them immensely, he didn't come out of most of the encounters unscathed, and his now newfound respect of the shooter's made itself known as many of them had actually left critical injuries: a broken arm, two fractured ribs, and a sprained ankle, with many cut's all over his body. He hadn't he even noticed he got shot 2 times in the torso and arm until he had finished a quick fight, that he was running solely on adrenaline now… his wounds had started to take their toll when he heard a shriek of pain and fear from a voice he knew very well.

He quickly soldiered through the pain and continued at a quick pace, using every ounce of will he had to push forward, he turned a corner and was met with a sight that made his blood boil. There, laying helplessly against her attacker sat Mabel, the attacker was none other than his first victim, David… with a kitchen knife to Mabel's throat, her shorts were down and his expression said it all, and had exposed his true colors, the colors of a complete monster that wasn't too against the thought of mutilating others for his sheer enjoyment. "You're mine now bitch!" roared David as he prepared to remove mabel's last line of defense.

And just like that, David was rammed into the wall at the end of the hall, being propelled by a very pissed off Dipper as soon as he had hit the wall, there was a sickening -Crack- as his skull caved in slightly with the combined efforts of a rock and a hard place. (DipperxWall)

He continued to unload multiple clips into David's 'lower-half', until the trigger simply kept making -click-click-click- sounds, Dipper then turned shakily to find arms wrapped around him… with a force that nearly sent him flying, he was prepared to retaliate until he realized the assailant was hugging him tightly and crying uncontrollably, it was Mabel, the sister he had been avoiding ever since he snapped, he had decided to not go anywhere near her after the same day he first beat the snot out of most of the kids, the same girl whom had tormented him for the younger half of his life.

Now here she was, bawling her eyes out into her only siblings chest… Dipper immediately wrapped his arms around her protectively, holding her in a strong and comfortable embrace, trying to put her at ease he stroked her hair and whispered reassuringly. After minutes have passed Mabel had quieted down, but still refused to leave her brother's embrace, little did she know, his wounds had caught up with him, making him pass out while standing.

Mabel hadn't realized this fact, as she contemplated how Dipper had effectively saved her from the most traumatizing experience she could have ever had, even after all the shit she put him through, even after ruining most of his life for her own sheer amusement, even after literally beating him half-to-death multiple times. When she hadn't seen him for around a year one day she had assumed he had finally ran away, but she didn't care, she was actually relieved he was gone… for some reason or another she had started to despise her brother after it was learned she was the favourite twin.

And even after all that, he still saved her regardless of all she did to him.

She almost started to break down again, until she felt something wet dripping from her brother, she pulled away slightly to be greeted with the familiar sight of his blood. Normally she'd be overjoyed at the sight, but seeing him now, she was absolutely horrified…

Suddenly, a man in black combat fatigues came around a corner bearing an assault rifle, followed by four more of his comrades from behind. "Get down! Get down right fucking now!" he yelled, pointing his weapon at her threateningly, only to be interrupted by one of his comrades, who had smacked the first man's weapon away. "Idiot, that's one of the hostages, we gotta get her outta here."

And that's exactly what they did, other teams similar to their own also searched the school, each attacker they found had either been knocked out, tied down or locked in certain rooms, with miraculously no casualties, except for the trauma of the victims.

Dipper had woken up in the hospital later that week, covered in bandages and surrounded by medical equipment, greeting him was the sight of a man in a black suit holding an envelope and a bored look on his face. "Ah, so you finally decided to wake did you? Well, I'm honored." said the man in a sarcastic tone, then he had practically shoved some envelope into his face. "Here you go kid." the man said in a bored tone. "Congrats, you've been accepted in our ranks… Cadet." he then turned, and walked off to god-know's where.

Dipper hesitantly opened the envelope up, and nearly went into a coma after reading it's contents, it turned out a few weeks ago his parent's had signed him up to a special military boot camp, it was a new camp that needed new cadet's to test out if children could be used as soldiers, you were only accepted into the camp if you, your family, your community, and an officer from the camp had all signed an agreement to do it, it was said to be made to: 'Straighten you out.' by 'simulating' combat situations, or something along those lines, point was: someone forged his signature… little did he know that signature was going to do more harm than good.

The camp was recommended for juveniles that were seen as either troublemaker's, or children without futures… he was apparently under the category of both from his parent's point of view, not only that, but later when he looked at his medical records he found he was even recommended there by the hospital after they diagnosed him as a sociopath.

Before he knew what was happening, he was already on a crowded Huron APC headed to an unspecified location… "How is this happening, I didn't do anything wrong." inside the APC was hot and cramped, he was stuffed in with multiple other cadets from JROTC, with some troublemaker's here and there. (Here goes my shitty accent typing.) "Hey, zat's what I zaid too!" claimed a scratchy french accent sitting across from him, he turned his head from the window of misery to see a short dirty/spiky blond with her hair covering one eye and hair tips dyed black and a gap between her front teeth, giving her a cute vibe in Dipper's opinion, she looked at him mockingly for a few short seconds when he cockily responded with. "Well I doubt we responded the same way, after all… I didn't go without a fight." he said smugly, before showing the scars from the other day, at this the girl looked surprised for a few seconds before showing some fresh scars of her own, grinning ear to ear.

Dipper then asked one of the greatest cliché questions of all time. "So, what're you in for?" she smiled knowingly responding with. "Likely ze zame az you, your parents think you're worthlessly violent azvell?" he sighed in an exhausted tone. "More like my entire family does." he grumbled, before a bump in the road gave him yet another bruise in the cramped car. "Agh! shit!" he hissed annoyed, before noticing that his voice wasn't the only one that spoke that line, he looked up to an equally perplexed face staring back at him.

At this point his heart started beating slightly faster before he quickly composed himself, she had a little giggle before she said. "Hey, I know a way for us to go somevhere zat's slightly more comfortable, and a little less crowded too." she said deviously. "I'm all ears." he replied in sync with her pace. "Good, then play along: Oi! What'd ju zay to me Gangster-vannabe?!~" she suddenly yelled aggressively, she honestly hadn't expected him to play along and was only doing this to humor herself on the way to her home away from home.

Only to be surprised when he didn't even hesitate to pick up his roll: "What? Need your ears cleaned out too cunt!? I thought you were supposed to be trained for this! I bet you ain't even been broken in by your previous owner!" he shot back aggressively, he wasn't sure this was enough to start anything, but little did he know this actually got a real reaction from her, she lunged at him, knocking him into a few other cadet's who had been watching the fight before assuming they were in a fight as well…

To say they were unsuccessful in starting a small riot within the vehicle would have been laughable, shortly the back of the APC's doors opened and a drill instructor demanded to know who had started the fight, all the cadets were quick to blame Dipper and his unknown accomplice… they were dragged out of the vehicle by a few MP's, still struggling and trying to claw each other's eyes out, after a few seconds the instructor decided they could figure their own problems out and put them in the back of an empty cargo that they had on standby in case any of them caused trouble for the cadets.

Shortly after being tossed into the truck, the door's immediately slammed shut, locking out any hope for escape. He and his pal looked at each other menacingly, panting with multiple bruises and small cuts littered across their bodies before they started laughing whole-heartedly. "The names Dipper." he offered a hand. "Charles, charmed, and might I add that I didn't expect you to play the roll as perfectly as you did." complimented his new best friend in a joking tone, accepting Dipper's hand of friendship. After that they quickly started to share stories of things they did, all the fun experienced and even a few trauma inducing ones, but neither seemed affected by what they shared (Besides impression and admiration for the other of course).

Little did they know, a certain Officer from the surveillance truck was throwing up uncontrollably after eavesdropping on them and had later been sent to the hospital, he was given leave for a week after explaining his grossly humiliating experience.

They spent their time just lolling around their confined box, only stopping for when the instructor decided to check and see if they 'settled' their dispute, only finding a line drawn between them and various bruises littered across their bodies and scowls across their faces, making sure he thought they still hated each other, as soon as he left though they started conversing as if they'd known each other forever.

"zo, vere're you from?" asked Charles a few minutes after they were sure the instructor left. "California." he answered simply with a wave of his hand. "And I'm half-hoping this trip ends up finally being my escape from that hole…" he muttered the last part under his breathe, staring at the ceiling boredly. "How 'bout you?" Dipper asked, hoping to change the subject. "I'm from France, zough I doubt you'd even know ze name of ze city." shrugged Charles in a disheartened tone. "I miss the city… hated ze people zough, it was actually famous for it's violence you know." she answered cheekily, doing a small mystery puzzle inside his head, he decided to take a shot in the dark: "Marseille?" there was an uncomfortable pause from Charles just when she was gonna continue her rant. "Hmm… impressive." commended Charles after a moment of showing a suspicious look at Dipper.

For a few seconds he just sat smugly, before he looked to the ceiling in boredom… that's when his thoughts slowly drifted back to what happened at the school, he thought about the role he played in it's ongoing 'chaos', though he would have described it differently, that was pretty average… kid's running and screaming stupidly while others chased them as if their lives depended on it, it was ridiculous they were afraid of those boy's…

They picked on them every day after all, and their combat ability was so horrid that he took them all on himself, Sure they had guns and knives but that's besides the point, a weapon is only an extension of oneself after all, like a knife is a fist only sharper and leaves a noticeable mark… they could at the very least dodge them and beat them down like all bullies usually did, it all only took a dark turn when…

"Mabel..." he muttered breathlessly, he started to think about a time before she was known as the favourite and actually seemed to care about him, when they had nightmares and shared the same bed, the jokes and stories they told each other and games they use to play when no one else had time for them… just him and her before the whole favourite thing started...and he had almost had her life ruined, somehow he KNEW it was all his fault… she was almost ruined by that sick fuck David and cried in the arms of the brother she absolutely loathed… David made her go so low as to confide in Dipper himself, and Dipper knew she had truly lost who she was at that point, he turned her into an unconfident wreck that even Dipper could pick on, so delicate and fragile.

For a short minute he thought about the embrace he held her in, it was so cold and heavy and fragile… so many emotions started to bubble up in him that he hadn't had in years… and then he started to reinforce the wall to his somewhat emotional heart as he put a little puzzle together in his head… she just used him, she used him like a toy to cry to because she didn't care about what he thought, she was likely the one who got his signature on the damn forum for this unknown camp in the first place.

Because that was all he was at the end of it all… yet another tool: (Crrc-shatter) that was the nail on the coffin, he had finally burned out on all of his emotions, truly dead inside… if he wasn't a sociopath before… he probably was now. While he had his psychological shift: Charles quietly looked at the eyes that seemed to have so much fire in them before, to her disbelief, the fire seemed to burn away to be replaced by a cold, uninterested and aged look in his eye.

She could even feel it, she had watched as his aura seemed to first radiate an attitude that made her think he wasn't gonna last more than a day after he helped pull off her plan gorgeously, after all, nerdy anger management wannabe's had no business in a place like this… however her confidence shrunk, (much like Dipper's heart) three sizes around him that day when that fire in his eyes left behind the eyes of a wise and cold hearted man.

'I guess he belongz 'ere… just like me.' she smiled slowly at this, and watched his eye-lids started to knit themselves back together into a slumber fit for a drunkard like her, as he slept she listened to the humming of the engine and the whirring of tires on the dirt road before starting to feel sleepy herself, she quietly crawled over next to him, layed down, and slept next to her best friend… the only one she believes truly understood her… how else could he have the perfectly same paced mentality as her? It couldn't have been a coincidence… or perhaps it was… she didn't care, and just wanted to sleep at that moment, pulling his free arm and using it a a pillow.

They both woke up that morning from a rude awakening when the truck practically slammed on it's brakes and tossed them across the cargo hold they sat in, Charles was quick to react and stood in an aggressive stance, ready to fuck up whoever interrupted her greatest nap since her first hangover, only to listen as her partner in crime stood and quickly took to her side, also riled up from an apparently pleasant dream, evident with the irritation he displayed before her.

Only to realize it was probably the asshole driving the damned truck, they looked at each other before looking at the cargo door patiently… except that they were not patient when it came to interrupting fuck-awesome nap time that even toddler's would start a war over. The door latches that locked them inside unhooked themselves and the door came open, revealing none other than the same instructor that put them here… he was secretly their favorite as he had practically given them their own VIP room for the whole convoy.

"Morning ladies! I see you slept well~." taunted the instructor, they didn't have time to respond before he stated: "you better have solved you little 'disagreement' because if you haven't, I'll put you both in the hole instead." when he said this, there was an uncomfortable pause before both Cadets stood up straight and at attention, simply responding. "Yessir!~" with a snap-salute. The instructor smiled at this in a satisfied manner. "Good, you wouldn't want to miss your assigned posts now would you?" they responded smartly. "No sir!~" the instructor was slightly annoyed that they already understood the program in which they responded and followed orders, no questions asked.

They were instructed to line up with the rest of the cadets and put their feel together on some white footprints in an STS manner, and await commands in the front gate to the camp that sat at the foot of a mountain, they were joined shortly by a line of men in formal uniform, one of which was the instructor that greeted them earlier that morning. "Atteeention!~" at this a few smart cadets shut their mouths and stood at attention, Including Dipper and Charles… the others weren't as smart as they continued to stand lazily and talk amongst themselves, the instructors and overseer looked closely at who had immediately obeyed.

After a few seconds the overseer gave a sharp nod, and the MP's who stood at attention started walking down the aisle of boys and girls in STS positions, as they walked and stopped in front of the ones that did stand at attention, every kid they passed went quiet at their approach, though the MP's only paid any mind to the ones who followed orders.

They stopped in front of the obedient cadets and instructed them to walk over to an empty STS box on the right of the small stage that housed the instructors and the overseer, and faced the rest of the cadets, Dipper and Charles were both selected and sent to the box, and stood awaiting any command they came their way.

After a solid minute of selection, the process had finally finished and the MP's went back to their positions, at first the disobedient cadets were confused as to what happened until someone fired a gun 4 times on the stage, each of the cadets had various reactions, but the one that stood out was shocked silence, the overseer spoke again: "Welcome to Camp Washington, I'm Mr. Von Abraham (Mr. Von for short), and here is where we'll train you to properly behave and obey, along with shaping you into this nation's ideal perfect fighting force!" exclaimed Mr. Von. "You will address me as 'Mr. Von sir' from now on, in fact you will do so now, understood?" this was shortly followed by the group that Dipper and Charles were in line with to smartly respond with: "Yes Mr. Von sir!~" loud and clear, making the other cadets jump slightly in surprise from the sudden reply they heard, this was followed shortly by a mess of responses from the rest of the crowd.

The overseer scowled at them. "Shut it! You all need to understand what it means to respond to orders from a superior, just like these cadets here at box zero." they all directed their attention on 'box zero', and Mr. Von continued. "From this point they are now Pvt's that at the very least understand what it means to follow commands, I just wished there were more... The rest of you will need to go through basic training from the very beginning, while the Pvt's undergo combat training and be assigned to squadrons of their own, do I make myself clear cadets?" they sloppily responded with an assortment of yessirs. The overseer shook his head and turned his attention to the Pvt's. "Understood Pvt's?" and they responded appropriately with a: "Yes Mr. Von sir!~"

"They're good to go instructor's." Mr. Von told a small group of instructors on stand by, they gave quick salutes and marched in front of box zero, instructing them to move into two groups of boys and girls side to side of each other, Dipper expected to see Charles go for the girls group, but didn't say a word when she stood just behind him.

That's when the two groups formed lines and marched away from camp Washington, they stayed on the same path for 4 miles until a fork came up with a sign that pointed out two different camp named: camp Musket and camp Flintlock, for the Male Muskets and Female Flintlocks, both gates could be seen from the fork, the only other trails was the trail to washington, and the trail that continued further up the mountain, the women went off to the right while the men went off to the left.

Along the way Dipper thought about the surroundings, he wasn't sure if the convoy passed an outer gate on the way here, but this place didn't seem very restricting, he was also interested in the discipline the other children in his group showed. Though since he was leading the little march he didn't dare turn his head, lest he wanted punishment, they stopped at the gate where other men in uniform waited with boxes on tables, and clipboards in their hands.

"Halt!" barked the group leader, to which they complied. "Here's how we're going to proceed, we will hand each of you a clipboard with a test clipped to it, you will complete the test start to finish within 3 hours, then you will go back in formation after being handed your uniform and a satchel with a change of clothes and boots, the first group of 20 to finish will be assigned to the same Platoon and move to the first bunkhouse, this process will repeat for the rest of you, is that understood?" finished an instructor, and they responded "Sir Yessir!" he continued. "You will then pick your bunks and change into your assigned uniform, then you will proceed to line up outside of your bunk house and await further instructions, do I make myself clear?" to which they responded: "Sir yessir!~"

"Good, now follow continue in 3 single file lines." the instructor was about to order them to reply with an 'aye sir!' when he was interrupted by none other than Dipper, Charles and surprisingly a black haired Pvt that was just behind Charles. "Aye sir!" the other boys stumbled for a moment before they responded with a late "Aye sir!~" most of them looked sheepish and unsure how to continue, but Charles, Dipper and the unknown stayed stone faced and continued following their instructions as ordered.

The instructor watched as they followed their orders to the letter and without hesitation, then looked back at the rest of the Pvt's that were still unsure how to continue. "Well? Get moving ladies!" at this the rest of the Pvt's went back to their stoney faced expressions and followed Dipper and Charles' example, 2 hours passed since they began and Dipper was looking at his test silently, close to finishing the test, Charles however wasn't looking at the test, but discreetly at Dipper instead, waiting for him to get up and go.

She had finished her test before the ten minute mark and was about to turn it in until she saw that Dipper was taking his sweet time with a bored expression painted across his face, when she saw this she was quick to sit back down again and waited, since then over 60 Pvt's had finished the test and had already filled up the first 3 bunk quarters.

And she was starting to lose her patience, she wanted to prove to the instructor that she wasn't some useless waste of space, that she was better than the rest of these Pvt's and should quickly rise through the ranks, but she also wanted to get to the bunks as quick as possible and change while no one paid attention to her, so as to keep her secret, however Dipper was taking so long that she started to wonder if he was really worth it.

Though the more she observed him, the quicker she caught on that he was looking at every other Pvt, obviously taking every little detail about them into consideration, but he wasn't looking at the Pvt's only, no, he was looking at their instructors closely as well.

Especially the one that gave them the instructions, the same one who gave them their own VIP transport here she noted quickly, she was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard: "5 minutes left." and saw Dipper give a barely noticeable nod while standing and walking over to turn in his 'test', she was quick to follow and turned in her test right next to Dipper, when they were both about to continue on to the line they were stopped by the very same instructor.

"Hold it Pvt's, you're coming with me." both Charles and Dipper turned and gave a salute, responding with a stone-face and loud: "Yes, sir!" and followed him over to a smaller bunkhouse that didn't have a large bunk room, but instead looked like a dorm area. "You two will be assigned here, as PFC's for the express purpose of being model soldier's for the rest of: 'Musket's first Platoon', do I make myself Clear PFC's?" they responded with a simple. "Yessir." when he gave them each a same numbered room key.

"You'll both be sharing the same room, nothing either of you can't handle I'm sure, after all, you did spend an entire convoy ride here, now get to your assigned bunk room and change into your field uniform, the clothes you came in here with will be left in a shared locker within your room." he produced yet another set of key's with a keyring on it for likely future keys."once you have completed these instructions you will continue to the canteen, where we will regroup with Flintlock to our joint sparring/training ground, questions?" he asked, they of course replied with: "No sir!"

He gave a sharp nod and continued back to the canteen to wait for all the recruits, while Dipper and Charles continued to room 0 at the end of the hall, upon entering the room Charles let loose an ear-splitting grin and turned to Dipper. "Veil, I guess ve're stuck with each ozher, aren't ve mind reader?" Dipper looked back at her and genuinely smiled. "If I had to be stuck with anyone else, I'd probably have a hard time not killing them." they both had a short laugh at this and looked around the room for a short minute, when Dipper concluded, you take the bathroom, I'll use this room." she then asked why and he responded with. "Don't want me seeing your cunt like the rest of the camp now do we?" he raised a brow with a suggestive smirk, she took this as a joke with a roll of her eyes, then proceeded to the bathroom.

By the time they were finished, Dipper had standard combat boots with woodland digital cargo pants with slightly puffed out pockets, he kept on his suspenders and put on a black tank top, with a woodland digital button up shirt over the tank top, leaving it unbuttoned and finally put his beanie back on his head, he left the rest of his personal stuff inside the locker he found under the bed as instructed and looked back to charles

She also wore combat boots with a white tank top, shirt and pants, the difference between them was she didn't have suspenders or a beanie and instead had a velvet red and dark black collar with the words: 'It pleases me to please you' on it, but was quick to cover it up with her uniform collar, though the top still made itself visible in the right light, but she did suspiciously have bandages wrapped tightly around her chest barely unseen by the tank top, that's when Dipper finished the puzzle on what she was doing… but he decided that it wouldn't hurt if he just kept his mouth shut.

"Tsk tsk tsk." went Dipper, Charles responded. "vat? vat's wrong?" she asked accusingly, he responded. "Nothing's wrong per say, but… whatever, listen, wanna borrow one of my suspenders and a beanie?" he asked politely, she considered this and shrugged. "Couldn't hurt I s'poze." and with that they continued to the canteen without interruption, along the way they both took note of how the camp looked far larger inside than it did out.

The reason Dipper and Charles were assigned to the same bunk was because the same drill instructor had secretly learned about their little ploy after watching the recordings from the surveillance truck, and liked the fact that despite being a pair of delinquents, they both had discipline unmatched by the rest of the few Battalions he came here with, evident from the welcoming ceremony given by the overseer. He was amazed and impressed with the two's quick planning and teamwork, but also their confidence and possible leadership skills when they pulled off the plan without a hitch.

Seeing all the evidence himself, he selected them as PFC and used them a 'role model's', not long after hearing their achievement's, the cadets and Pvt's started spreading rumors about the two's quick achievements, it somehow got all the way back to camp washington… Dipper and Charles were later given the titles: Salt and Pepper, the Sociopath and the Psychopath when they responded uniquely to the rumors, yeah, later Dipper learned that apparently Charles was too attached with her emotions while Dipper had an apparent lack thereof, that was only a plus when pairing the two as partners for laters officer's course in their drill instructor's eyes, who was later known as 'Sir', he firmly believed that they could balance each other out in terms of psychology.

Sir was an excellent instructor among many, he was prepared to start Disciplining Salt and Pepper's combat ability to match their possible future leadership roles, that is until he was given an example of their strength, agility and smarts as they sparred with the other combat instructors and talented Pvt's skillfully with few flaws in between.

He observed PFC Pepper/Charles: her fighting was a complete mess of emotions, every move she made unpredictable, animalistic and brutal, as her nickname implies she was the Pepper that spiced up the session and added a bit of flavour into the mix, she truly was a Psychopath. Note: There's a slight tint to her cheeks.

He then observed PFC Salt/Dipper: his fighting was completely clean of emotions unlike his counterpart, his movements were cold, calculating and graceful, his nickname was clear as he showed bitter intent much like Salt did when interacted with, he snugly fit the bill of a Sociopath. Note: He looks bored out of his mind again.

What they had in common was their ability to drive fear into each of their opponents throughout the fight's and finishing their opponent for quick wins, what made it even better was when they did team sparring, they worked perfectly in tag-teams and 2v2's, working coordinately with each other. 'So different yet so much better together… like Salt and Pepper, a fitting name I suppose.' Thought Sir to himself as he decided to see what would happen when they fought over the same omelette.

"Next is PFC Salt vs PFC Pepper." This quickly brought everyone's attention back to the ring, quickly regaining their interest after losing such humiliating battles so quickly, both looked at each other cockily and moved to the ring with confidence, they had both been hoping to spare with each other for a long time, and had been interested in each other's combat ability since they first met.

"The rules are simple, do not fall out of the ring or you lose, the fight will go on for five minutes, the fight will stop when the other opponent either surrenders or falls unconscious, even if the other is unable to continue fighting they must either surrender or fall unconscious for the fight to stop. Understood?" he asked the pair, to which they nodded respectively. "Ready." They took up their own stances. "Set." They were now ready to strike without hesitation, or mercy. "Begin!~"

Salt sidestepped Pepper's attack, which was a kick that sent sand flying in his direction. "Hey, that's cheating!" Exclaimed one of the cadets, who was interrupted by a close-by instructor: "Nonsense, there was nothing in the rules that stated otherwise, they're merely using their environment to their advantage, they can do whatever they wish to ensure their win… even go 'below' the belt…" at this, every man/boy found their hands protectively guarding their crotches in fear.

Salt ignored them and proceeded to jump and rolled to the side and found himself at the edge of the circle, Pepper saw an opening and made for a 'this is sparta!' kick, when he stepped forward and grabbed the end of her ankle which had barely reached him, and prepared to flip her out of the ring, until she brought up her other leg and kneed him right in the jaw, nearly dislocating it, he stumbled, losing his grip on her ankle, then came back to reality and found she was on top of him with a violent glint in her eyes, she was in a mounted position and was about to sucker punch him.

He quickly made the decision of headbutting her, almost breaking her nose, she fell back and rolled as not to be mounted herself, she took a knee, clutching her nose, she pulled her hand away and there was some blood dripping from her nose, she looked back angrily at Salt but calmed slightly as he merely got even for his own bloody mouth.

They both stood and stepped forward, closing the gap between them, this time Salt made the first move, bringing his fist up, she made to block but was surprised as it wasn't the fist that came into contact with her, but an elbow instead, which had snuck from below her own block.

She prepared to retaliate when the same elbow came back down and drove itself into into her throat, bringing her down and gave Salt the chance to drive his knee into her gut, driving the air out of her lungs, Salt was about to throw her to the side to lay sprawled out, but found that a little difficult as he himself was being thrown over her shoulder.

As he fell he landed on his feet and brought his other elbow down onto her lower spine, but she just shivered in response when she turned to meet his gaze. 'That should have at least made her stumble.' he thought, looking back at her panting face, which had adopted a heavy lust filled gaze. 'Holy shit, is she a masochist?' he thought for a moment, before his face met with the bottom of her boot.

He was on his back again, totally dazed as she once more mounted him, taking her time this time, rubbing her own groin against his. He looked up slowly while she put both her hands together creating one fist, she raised her arms as high as they would go, but before she could bring the hammer down she hesitated when she saw the look in his eyes, it was like she was looking at a different person instead of her friend for a split second… his gaze was so cold and careless that it sent a shiver of excitement up her spine when it filled others with complete horror and fear.

Salt noticed her hesitation, and lunged his head for her neck and bit down, only enough to bring her out of her daze, instead of actually leaving a real mark… but still enough to bruise her, she reacted unexpectedly and moaned quietly into his ear, arching her back, he took his opening and slipped a leg under her and used all he had in his legs and launched her to the other side of the ring, landing on her back and panting, then rolling onto her knees with her head to the ground, trying to recover whatever air that abandoned her lungs.

He stood quickly and moved slowly for her, and soon found himself standing above her, she had recovered mostly and was starting to look up, only to find an arm wrapped around her neck that began squeezing her main air passage. She grabbed his arm and began to pry but he didn't budge, and the more she attempted to remove him, the colder she realized he actually felt… his skin was so cold it brought a new meaning to 'cold-blooded', just when Salt assumed Pepper would give up, she stood up with a newfound strength and was about to slam him backwards when he kicked off from her, sprawling her out onto the dirt.

There was a cool silence as she stood again, panting heavily, and whipped back around to stare at Salt for a few moments, and was quickly surprised when he tackled her out of the ring, they rolled from the force of the roll which ended with her on top, but instead of a mounted position, her knee sat on top of his chest while her other foot sat on one of his arms, effectively bruising it.

Pepper smiled warmly at Salt, and not even in a creepy sadistic/blood lust filled smile, but one that you'd offer kindly to a close friend or family member, then leaned down to his eyes with her blush growing slightly before being interrupted by the announcer. "And the winner is, Salt with Pepper taking the loss!~" Salt's eyes widened, while Pepper's merely looked down at him doe-eyed for a few seconds before quickly shaking her head and regaining her composure, Pepper stood stiff as a board, as if caught with a hand in the cookie-jar.

The announcer announced the leaderboards, Salt took first, Pepper second and a PCF from camp Flintlock called 'Sugar' took third, while the rest were just random names. "The Sociopath, the Psychopath and the Narcissist." muttered an intrigued Sir while he stared at the scoreboard with an amused grin, then proceeded back to his own bunk, preparing for the end of the day.

Later Salt found himself back at his bunk, rubbing his sore muscles from his recent sparring session with Pepper, and although he felt miserable physically, his mental status was far from miserable. 'This is the best place that has ever happened to me, I can't believe I was so worried!~' he practically sung to himself, smiling like a fool while looking at himself through a mirror, for a few seconds he just stared at his scrapes and bruises. But was then interrupted by Pepper when she commented. "Oooh, am I hallucinating, or are you wearing a happy grin right after a whoopin session from yours truly?" asked a laughing Pepper.

"I think it's just you." he smiled back. "I don't smile after all, you should know that with your strange masochist personality right after I started whipping your ass." at this her face dropped. "You saw?" Salt was about to reply truthfully, but seeing the dread in her eyes made his chest tighten for a few moments. "N-nah… I was just seeing things." he replied lamely, figuring he might have made a mistake, until he saw her go back into the regular peppered personality she always had and smiled sweetly. "Heh, I think we should spar again sometime soon, I want my place at the top where I belong, any I won't have it swiped from under me by some bitter side-kick." she taunted jokingly, to which he laughed.

"Heh You're on, there's no way you could beat me when it comes to an original martial art form." he replied tiredly, but Pepper wasn't going to let that slide: "An original art form? So you have one as vell do you?" asked Pepper, he responded "I do, and I did indeed notice your own original form aswell… it made fighting with you difficult…" he said, grumbling the end. "You Know… we could try putting zem togezer zomehow…" she said suggestively, Salt chose to ignore her flirting attempt and looked at Pepper tiredly, truly considering the idea of somehow putting the arts together… however they were polar opposites, it was unlikely that it could work. "I doubt it, your art's was created the same was as mine was, the very basic part of the fighting was burned into your head, there's no way we could use each other's stances or ability… if there was a way to put them together I'm sure we would have by now." at this Pepper blew a strand of hair from her eyes annoyed that Salt didn't get her joke, and that she couldn't maybe steal his technique and be more like him.

There was a knock at their door, both Salt and Pepper looked at the door and barked: "State your rank, name, nickname and business here!" they said in unison, they got their response immediately. "Pvt. Zoe, but everyone calls me Ebony, I… can you guys give me zome tips or eh... advice?" the voice sounded feminine and the accent was German, at first the voice was strong and businesslike, but quickly devolved into a nervous tone, Salt and Pepper looked at each other before Salt shrugged and Pepper replied: "It'z unlocked, come on in." there was a pause, until the knob turned and revealed the same Pvt from the earlier test, the only one who responded the same way salt and Pepper did… 'So why wasn't she made a model PFC as well?' wondered Salt, but quickly dismissed his thinking at the moment, it would be rude to ignore guests after all.

"Hey, you're ze only ozher von zat rezponded ze same az me and Zalt 'ere from ze entrance." observed Pepper, looking at her confusedly. "I don't think you really 'ave any reason to go look'in for 'our' advize, eh?" looked at Zoe, or rather, Ebony now. "What do you need exactly?" asked Dipper politely, she responded. "I… I've never seen either of your fighting techniques before, Salt look's like his was originated from the dead kick boxing art: Muay Thai, however your fighting technique looks like it originated from Savate, however instead of uniform movement's like the original martial arts, you both have much looser movements, und your unpredictability when switching between moves is unnatural, as if the moves were altered expressly for a newly generated move."

She looked ecstatic and absolutely dazed, but it was obviously in an excited manner, this got Salt to contemplate for the first time whether he should share his originally generated martial art form to a complete stranger, he was very hesitant when it came to explaining his art to someone he barely knew… but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like explaining, after all, no one has ever shown his technique this much interest before, not even the kids that knew martial arts at his school just because they wanted to teach him a lesson.

"Zo you're asking us vat exactly?" Pepper asked while Salt was now looking for reasons not to spill any of his secrets, then she responded: "Would you mind teaching me how to fight like you guys do?" there it was, the reason she wanted to be anywhere near the most feared duo in camp… was to become one of them. "I'm not affiliated with any basic fighting stances, and I don't know if I'll even be any good, but when I saw both of you facing off against each other, I felt my heart beating so quickly… I thought I'd have a heart attack, we may be learning the same martial art that was passed down through the rest of the military, but neither of you were beaten when you faced off against the rest of the camp."

Salt and Pepper looked at each other, looking right into each other's eyes as if they could speak telepathically… though they couldn't, they did have a similar mindset, they turned back to Pvt Ebony: "So you just want us to teach you our art forms?" they asked incredulously, to which Ebony nodded nervously and hesitantly. "If it's not too much to ask." Salt and Pepper looked at each other with smiles painted on their faces. "Vell, it vould be very polite to share ze conversation ve vere 'aving vouldn't it?" questioned Pepper, Salt responded: "I believe so… You see Pvt Ebony, we were just talking about our fighting styles before you got here, and we'd both like to learn how to use them together, the problem is we both have our own training burned so deeply and permanently into our minds, we can't rightly understand the other's technique… that being said we'd still like to see them somehow put together.

"What we're trying to say Ebony is that we're pretty much using you as a guinea pig, once you have a basic understanding of both our styles, we'll try to mold them both together in you, later we'll teach you the rest of our art's in a combined effort so that they become a new art altogether. By the end of our teachings, you'll have to teach us what we taught you, so that we may also use each other's art." Salt roughly explained, then gave the nervous Ebony a reassuring smile. "That being said, you'll have to stick with us… any objections?" he asked cheerfully, Ebony looked at Salt, then to Pepper, who was mirroring his expression almost perfectly.

"I-I don't mind, it would be really nice to have a group to go to…" Ebony said shyly, now that the agreement was out of the way, Salt took in her appearance: she was a bit taller than Pepper, her hair was a short Ebony black and her uniform consisted of a white tank top with woodland digital cargo shorts and her shirt was wrapped around her hips, as well as the standard combat boots, she had a woodland digital bandana wrapped around her neck, arm and leg.

Meanwhile Pepper was asking a question that was nagging at her mind ever since she first saw Pvt Ebony fall into the same line as her and Salt: "So, are you Male or Female." she asked bluntly, and Ebony response: "I am Female, but I am under registration in musket for… 'special' reasons… before I came here I was actually in a juvenile detention center in Germany serving life for murder on an island prison called: Corbitz Row, I didn't do it mind you… but no one believes a word I say." Salt looked at Pepper, then asked: "Who're the victims?" and she replied "It… was ex-best friend's family… it was like I was in a nightmare… the only one I called friend said I did it, but I know it was him, he had this malicious look in his eyes." she said shakily.

There was a pause before Pepper spoke up. "So they're letting you into a boys camp?" she asked hopefully, and Ebony replied: "Y-yeah… I thought there'd at least be one other girl in the camp but… either way every boy has been hitting on me, I'm only here because you two seem similar to me, we're all very uniform if you ask me. The other's lack discipline, you're both inmates aswell right?" she asked in a hopeful tone, Salt and Pepper looked at each other, then back at Ebony: "I'm 'ere because I accidentally killed a local barkeep and his bouncer… though it vas an accident on my part."

They both had a look of understanding when they looked at each other, then looked at Salt expectantly. "How about you PFC Salt?" asked Ebony. "Just call us Salt and Pepper Ebony." said Salt, then said. "If you haven't heard about what I did… it might be in your best interest that you both never know." he replied vaguely, after a few seconds of letting that sink in he looked outside and said: "It's getting late Ebony, you should go and turn into your bunk before the instructor's come up with lewd ideas about you staying overnight." when he said that both girls blushed and nodded quickly, Ebony go up and gave a respectful salute, turned, and went out the door.

Pepper thought about what Ebony said, then thought about her situation… instead of dwelling on it too long, she decided to turn in for the rest of the day, but before she did: "Y'know, if you ever wanna tell me your dirty secrets, I'll tell you mine." she said jokingly. "You mean the fact that you're a chick posing as a dude? I'll take my chances." laughed Salt in a warm manner, she was about to respond when he said: "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul, living OR dead, Musketeer's Promise: all for one and one for all…" she thought about what he said, but decided everything he said just now was a joke, and that he didn't know she was a girl after all, she soon fell asleep to have an interestingly hot dream.

Salt however didn't fall asleep immediately, unlike his counterpart he didn't like sleeping at night, if he had a choice he'd be nocturnal, after having his fill of looking into the starry night sky he thought about the sparring session the camps had, 'Was it a way to start the first ranking list? To decide who's who? Either way, I guess it's better this way, now I'm around other people who've had similar experiences, at least they understand.' after his moment of thinking, he searched through his provided satchel that was assigned to him earlier, finding a few different types of books: Notebooks, Rule books, Engineering books for weapons and vehicles, Books on tactical warfare and Chemical warfare, Book's in crafting, Medical, Etc, the list went on and on.

But they were all here for one purpose: to prepare each of the children in these camps for any future threats. It was obvious that every nation wasn't opposed to this, as there were kids here from all over the globe, boy's and girls of all ages, shapes, colors and sizes, no matter what religion. He decided to put a pen in trying to piece THAT puzzle together for now, as a note in the 'rule book' caught his attention, the note explained that it is required that they read everything in the bag, the empty notebooks were not only there to take notes, but also for them to list their mental status so that each government participating could evaluate their results when in the program, Salt got the jist of it and moved onto another book that explained more about the camp they currently sat in, apparently they were completely cut off from the rest of the world, they weren't even on any maps, no food was sent here unless there was an emergency, and they grew their own.

Because they were probably on an unknown island in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere, he had no idea how they got here, he didn't feel himself get put on a ship or a cargo plane or heli, he had no clue… 'Unless it was while everyone was asleep.' thought Salt, of course this was assuming they were put on an island in the first place as he found it hard to believe any nation would willingly put their own 'child-soldiers' completely in the care behind another nation's borders. So for the moment he was going to assume they were on a classified island.

Another thing he discovered was that they still had 'internet' though instead it was called: 'Blacknet' and it was strictly limited to the camp's surrounding area, apparently just because they were going to be the world's killing machines, didn't mean they couldn't taste what it meant to be human, or maybe it was part of their training, blending in with society to hunt a target or go undercover, maybe even be sleeper agents, or maybe it was so that when whatever they're preparing for it over they can reintegrate into society without a problem and be somewhat normal again, after all it's not like they can just execute a bunch of highly trained soldiers trained to defend themselves.

There were many things that will likely happen, all that mattered is that he's here now, and he wasn't planning to escape any time soon… he didn't have anywhere he'd rather be.

So for the next few hours that first night he wrote his thoughts into the notebook as instructed, then continued to read into as much of the books in the bag as possible, especially the rule book that explained what it could about the place they were in, he read and read until he fell asleep inside a mountain of books, that buried him alive.

The next morning he woke up to the sound of a morning trumpet, by the end of it the speaker it sounded from said: "Get to the canteen in the next hour, failure to comply will result in consequences, that is all." when he heard this there were two groans that sounded in his room, though one of them wasn't from Salt, when he noticed this fact his eyes shot open and he looked around quickly, the only thing catching his sight was Pepper climbing halfway down the ladder and making her bed, he sat up slowly as his eyes fell away from her lower half and back to the pile of books that buried him… he didn't have this many books…

He wasn't sure how to react to this, luckily he didn't have to as the pile shifted when someone popped her head up from the pile and looked down at him. "Morning already?" the apparently girl asked, luckily she was wearing her own uniform instead of pajamas… her uniform was from the girls camp: camp Flintlock, so he had no clue what she was doing in Musket. "I could totally go for some breakfast right now." he was about to respond when Pepper dropped down from the ladder with a hostile look in her eyes. "Who ze hell!- state your rank, name and nickname!" ordered, she was obviously about to kick the shit out of her, but luckily put herself back under control before she did something she might regret.

"Huh? Ah, I have introduced myself yet have I?" she asked in a British accent before she continued: "I am Private First Class. Ava, but everyone calls me 'Sugar', because I'm the sweetest thing you'll ever lay your eyes on." she replied seductively. "Wait, you're telling me zat YOUR Sugar? ze third place occupant on ze scoreboard?" asked a less angry Pepper.

At this she responded with the cockiest smirk she could muster: "You know it, and you two are PFC Salt and Pepper, the only boy's in Musket that have a shot into the Officer's classes. I'm the only current girl at Flintlock that's gotten as far as you two… though if we fought I'm sure I'd be at the top of the scoreboard… either way, since we're all on the same boat I thought id introduce myself."

"So you can both serve me. . ."

 **(Aaand that's that for the very first chapter, I love for people to comment and tell me what they think about this, I might not continue attempting to write the accents as it's a lot of work. Another thing I'd like to state if I hadn't made it clear before is that I am NOT taking this to gravity falls or including characters from there besides Dipper anytime soon, but it will eventually get there I promise, finally I'd like to address that I'm pumping all I've got into making chapters for both THIS story, as well as: Down A Different Road. I don't plan on abandoning everything I've done so far, I'll welcome any suggestions for the story if you have any: Music, OC's, Scenarios, Weapons and Vehicles, Etc. thank you all for reading. :D)**


	3. Chapter 2: Official Enlistment(Edited)

Chapter #2: Life Of The Muskets

Salt now found himself going towards the canteen as instructed with a very agitated Pepper not very far behind, when they got to the canteen Pepper was still seething, but not as badly as before. When they walked towards the cook known as: 'Cook-Cook', Dipper thought now would be a good time to speak to the agitated bull: "Hey, have you looked in your bag yet?" he waited expectantly for her answer… however he failed to realize that, up until now, she either didn't hear him… or was making an attempt at the silent treatment.

After a few more attempt to get her attention he went with the ladder. "Listen, this is important, last night I-" he hadn't even begun to warn her when she stormed off angrily towards one of the instructors… he had a few ideas on what she was gonna do, but didn't think too hard on it as he was approached by one of the Pvt's: "You think you're hot shit? How are you on the top of the scoreboard when you haven't even faced off with me huh?" Salt looked at him, unamused and was going to respond when Sir walked into the canteen. "Attention! There's been a slight change in plans for all of you, basic training will start today after you get tagged. Understood?"

There was a chorus of 'Yes sir's' by the end of his announcement and he continued: "Now, onto business… the tests you each had taken when you got here were evaluation tests, as the name implies you have all been tested yesterday both physically and mentally, we don't need no emotion here kiddies… we already have enough information on that subject… I hope you all gave 100% on those tests, because if you were wrong with them, you'll have to be re-evaluated, and likely sent to Washington again."

"Now, Open your satchels, pull out your Info-Tablets, or IT's for short, and proceed to look through everything within it, each of your profiles have already been set. Within the tablet is all you need to know for today, it will tell your current standing in the camp, which squad your assigned with, your schedules, the rules, and everything about you. It also contains maps and the basic info about the other's within the camp as well, the schedules are for which… 'sessions' you will take, just like any school. Taking another's IT is strictly prohibited and will result in severe punishment."

The Pvt's that started to get wolfish grins had already vanished while others had looks of relief painted on them, though most hadn't been effected. "Proceed to place the first set of tags around your neck, and the second will be on your foot, do not lose these tags, as they are extensions of your body."

"I better not have to say what happens if you lose them… another thing that will be sitting on your bunks will be your official uniforms… the ones you have now were temporary and have no business within this territory, do with them what you will."

"Now, I'm getting lazy and truthfully don't care about any of this bullshit so let's wrap this up. You are all here for different reasons, here for family, here to serve a sentence, no hope left, your an outcast, etc etc… however by the time you all leave you will all have the exact same purpose." at this some raised brows, other's perked up, and a few rolled their eyes. "You will fight… for humanity." the previously uninterested room suddenly perked up. "You don't belong anywhere anymore, this is your brand new home… and it's here to stay, just like each and every one of you." some started to have panicked looks. "Calm yourselves, many of you may not understand… but your countries don't want you anymore." everyone's heart stopped, the whole room was silent, the whole room was still.

"However, weather they like it or not they still need you, _we_ need you, when we looked at each of your profiles it was likely you'd all have wasted lives, working fast food, cleaning dog shit, getting sold off, executions, life in prison… but we see your potential, and we absolutely _refused_ to see it go to waste so it can just die with the rest of you. So as of this moment, you all now stand under the same banner in brotherhood, you are all Musketeers."

"Don't worry though, it's not like you won't ever go back to those countries, those without futures of any kind will take on fake identities and fake lives… but there's a catch. If we are to proceed together through this valley of death you are to set aside your differences, shut up, and follow our rules. If you don't want anything to do with this plan..." there were many expressions and opinions, though Salt, Pepper and Ebony had shown no emotion, their hearts swelled with joy at some kind of second chance at redemption, Sir continued: "Then you will go back to whatever lives you had, no strings attached, no one dies, no one gets hurt, I, and every other man and woman involved with this 'Project', Promise… if you wish to leave, you will stand with one hand above your head."

There was a pause as he waited for their answer, then he continued: "If however, you wish to proceed into this unknown darkness with the rest of us… then you will stand, and you will salute." he then proceeded to straighten out his figure, putting his left hand on the center of his back in a fist, then raised his left fist straight forward, only to bring it back to his chest in a firm 'Thump'.

There was a hesitant Silence, Salt took this as his que and stood strong and proud, repeating the mans salute to show his loyalty, his companions watched as he made his decision… then steeled their own resolve, giving their own salutes as well.

As the silence continued, another stood… then another… then two, each giving hesitant salutes of their own… but just when it looked like there was going to be a wave of loyal child-soldiers… a large portion was still sitting to themselves, still unsure of the proposal… then they raised their hands, looking down in slight shame, upon seeing this action most of the other children had as well.

More than 80% of the occupants raised their hands high and lowered their heads in shame… they were afraid… they were after all children, what can you expect? A man says your going to be a child-soldier, most you'd think would rise to it, but they were only human. This was unusual, unfamiliar, crazy… it wasn't their 'normal' life that they had before.

Upon watching each child make their decision, Sir had frowned, he knew he wasn't the most charismatic man, but you'd think more would have herd mentality and followed Salt's example… but he understood, he was asking them a lot after all, and he wasn't a monster, he wouldn't force them… so he kept his word…

He pulled out of his salute by lowering his head in a submissive manner then went back to his usual posture (Without the salute obviously) and spoke: "The decision has been made, and as promised I shall keep my word… Musketeer's, please escort the rest of these deserter's outside of camp, a few buses will be waiting to take them back to where they belong." Salt once again lead by example and went over to a group of deserter's who had raised their hands… 'No.' he corrected himself: 'Children… Civilians… I'm escorting Civilians, they were never soldiers…'

"The deserters at this table, please proceed to follow me to the exit where you will be escorted off the base, if you do not comply I will be forced to use more violent tactics to ensure my task is complete, Understood?" his voice was cold, and his tone made them aware there was no room for argument, each of them gave their affirmative before he continued."Stand up and get in one line as not to take up the other's room." he stated and they clammered to complete their tasks without argument. He turned on a heel and ordered them to follow him to their early retirement.

Other Musket's watched how he completed his task, then quickly did their jobs and repeated exactly what Salt said word-for-word, after all, he was the best in the camp, it makes sense to follow his lead right?

Sir watch Salt closely as he did his job… he was exactly what he was looking for as a first Officer, he obviously had his own squad picked out as well, the ones known as Pepper and Ebony… the Three Musketeers… he was exactly what the group needed in a soldier: self disciplined, naturally skilled in combat, commanding authority. But most importantly, Loyal. He looked to the other 'Staff member's' and it appeared they each had the same thoughts on him… his squad was incredible as well, strong, smart, compatible… his decision was made, these ones were going to be the spearhead of example soldiers…

All and all, today was still rather shit however, he already lost more than 80% of his troops… a tragic day indeed.

0-0-0-0-0

While the instructor had promised to let the children go free no strings attached, the deserter's were still nervous for the consequences of their actions. 'Could it really be that cut and dry?' 'He's likely leading us on, there's no way they'd just let us slip out of here like this…' 'Maybe I still have time to change my mind?'. These were the thoughts running through the deserter's heads, as they approached the end of the camp, there, as promised, were what looked to be a pair of empty green buses, door's wide and welcoming: almost promising their chance out of this abnormal place.

Salt marched up to the side of the bus and stood, the children wanted to rush onto the bus, wanted to rush back to their normal lives… but the very sight of him standing next to their destination greatly discouraged them from completing their task… Salt, realizing they must be waiting for his blessing, nodded weakly towards the door, a look of disappointment painted firmly on his features.

That nod, it felt like a nod you'd get from a parent or even an older sibling, as if from someone you'd look up to your entire life, they barely even knew each him and vice-versa, but he made everyone who had seen it look guilty in their choice to abandon their posts, to simply throw away such a rare opportunity… he looked each of them in the eye… his eyes were unreadable, and what do you do when you usually don't understand something? You look for a way to replace it.

In this case, his blank look to some, would look to be a look of betrayal or sadness or even anger.

"Proceed through those door and move to the back seats, do not leave a single seat in the back empty… once you sit you will not be allowed to stand unless instructed otherwise later on…" there was a pause, to him he spoke in a perfect deadpan tone that betrayed no emotion whatsoever, but to everyone else that had decided to leave… there were so many emotions they imagined in place of what there really was… in reality he actually had no attachment to any of these civilians, so it really wasn't a big problem for them to leave…

But to them…: 'I made a mistake I made a mistake I made a mistake' 'To have these feelings on the receiving end… fuuuuuuuuuu-' 'he's pissed isn't he?'. Well obviously Salt has a hidden talent for manipulation emotions without even trying… reluctantly they started to pile onto the bus, tails between their legs, just as they were almost finished, a boy from the back stopped and turned to Salt.

"P-permission to speak sir." the boy sounded quiet, but not shy or afraid, just soft-spoken. "Granted." answered Salt, who kept a rigid posture with his arms behind his back, the boy spoke: "Is there… is it possible to revoke my previous decision?" Salt thought for a moment, then nodded, he knew every single rule set after all, this boy could technically say he was co-escorting with him, he hadn't stepped foot into the bus anyway, so he was still technically enlisted at the moment. "Yeah, you're only chance at freedom from this life is to step onto this here bus right now… after that your only way out is… rather painful." the boy looked relieved, then after a moment he seemed to remember he was on the job.

He immediately stood next to Salt and copied his posture, strict and strong, before they continued Salt had a question nagging him: "What changed your mind?" the boy was expecting this question and answered readily: "I just had to make sure my brother left… he isn't cut out for this kind of life, so I tricked him, he thinks I'm on the bus right now… but this place is exactly what I need." having his answer, Salt was satisfied.

For the next few minutes other deserter's boarded the bus and soon, the door shut and the buses quickly exited the area, once that was finished only the Enlisted remained, as soon as the buses departed Salt regrouped with his circle and proceeded back to the lounge, their business was done here and there was no need to linger, both Pepper and Ebony noticed the way Salt carried himself, he was in 'No Nonsense' mode, they took up their positions on his right and left side as he moved with purpose…

For them it was highly unlike them when they failed to notice the remaining troops falling into step behind them… in perfect formation. (If only this really happened, that'd be dope)

0-0-0-0-0

Sir was speaking with the other instructors about the unfortunate loss of troops… what they all wanted to speak about was Salt, but not a single one of them knew how to open the subject… or even for Pepper for that matter, somewhere along the way Pepper ended up having to beat a few into submission for trying to make an escape, after her display of speed and strength against the deserters who had outnumbered her three to one (a very violent group of children who are currently knocked out and on one of said buses) everyone else fell in line without question when they were at first resisting heavily.

Finally Sir decided to bring up the elephant in the room: "So, about PFC's Salt and Pepper…" just as he was speaking the rest of the instructors perked up with noticeable interest. "I'd like to recommend them to our Officer's program… and since we're already short on troops and looking for capable minds… I also recommend that we allow Pvt Ebony to accompany them…" the others were about to object when he continued: "Although her Physical grades are… 'average' she does have very good academic skills, as seen on previous tests, her psyche level isn't so bad either."

The other's looked hesitant, but at least they weren't outright objecting… he continued: "Consider how she usually isn't far from where Salt or Pepper are in mental capability: on the first day of arrival she responded exactly like they had, if we drop the fact that she was the first to even finish the test with flying colors, and you've all seen how close she's gotten to the PFC's… they haven't let anyone else anywhere near them, let alone even speak to them the way she has, furthermore if you've seen her file you'd see she isn't very different from Salt or Pepper at all."

"In fact, the only reason she isn't a PFC is because she lacked the opportunities that Salt or Pepper had…" his argument was full of holes, but he did bring up some good points… yeah, he really should work on his speech skills… and maybe think faster before allowing his mouth to run. Besides that, the other's understood what he was saying, so pushing aside the poor argument, they did need more than just to present two officer's to the program… so hesitantly, they agreed to allow Ebony to follow in the other PFC's footsteps, even if she was just a Pvt she was still invaluable, it would be a waste otherwise, And they all knew it.

As soon as the agreement was issued there a hesitant silence… after a few awkward seconds of pondering everything that brought them here, they heard the door's open, followed by the small group of soon-to-be Officer's creeping into the room and making a B-line towards their previous seats… followed soon after by the rest of the troops, whom all sat around not too close (Yet not too far) from to said first group. There was a tense silence, which only seemed to grow worse with everyone's stoic gaze… most of that gaze was leveled to Salt himself, who was busy inspecting his 'IT'... shortly after watching him look through it everyone seemed to be reminded of it's existence and soon the hall started to go back into an animated chatter… but the tension was still there.

Because everyone was thinking back to that speech earlier, this is their life now, they will be seen as children for a while longer, but right now they are troops, inexperienced troops who have yet to have their first battle, but still troops… truthfully most of the people in camp now were people who have actually killed, weather it was self-defense or cold blooded murder didn't matter anymore, no one else in this room had any right to judge the people they sat next to now… the people who did have the right to judge just left camp a few minutes ago, no, everyone here now knew was being a 'soldier' meant, by choosing to willingly stay is choosing to willingly kill.

'In the name of Friend's?'

'In the name of Family's?'

'In the name of Humanity?'

"For the greater good…" Salt whispered mirthlessly, while he was young and had yet to experience all the world had to offer, he knew that his life was completely… well, for lack of a better term: 'Shit', but he knew all too well that his life wasn't everyone's, he may have been dealt a bad deck, but he didn't mind, he knew, maybe better than everyone (Even the adults) that there must have been good people out there, people just like him but were too scared to do anything… they needed someone to help them, someone to relate to, he didn't know how he was going to do it but he was going to make the world a better place, even if it didn't want, didn't _need_ his help he would do it… Salt had grown up alot faster than he should have mentally, perhaps it would be his undoing?

After a few minutes the tension dissipated from the atmosphere and everything was calm, when he noticed this he was about to relax… until none other than Sir cleared his throat behind him, almost immediately his companions perked up and stood at attention, he followed suit, not wishing to be outdone for whatever reason. He briefly wondered why Sir was here until he remembered the boy from the bus, the one who didn't want to leave… 'I'm probably in trouble.' he started regretting his leap of faith for the rules on some nameless kid who he'd already forgotten.

With that thought passing through his head he quickly gave his superior his new salute, along with his two companions, and awaited the presumed punishment, when he wasn't immediately berated or hit he was immediately confused, Mr. Sir looked between him and his companions and nodded towards the door. 'He probably doesn't want to make a scene.' a form of relief passed through him, he was glad he wasn't going to be punished in front of everyone… glad he wasn't being made an example of.

As soon as he gave his nod he and his companions, who were both unsure as to what was happening, they made for the door and left the room, as soon as they were out he grimaced, which did not go unnoticed by Ebony, though Pepper seemed to have this smug look glued to her muzzle, likely thinking about the reward they were going to be given for handling the Deserter's earlier, yes, this was definitely going to be a reward, what else could it be? Well, only one way to find out.

0-0-0-0-0

(Later.)

To be blunt, it had been a very short talk with the instructors. All that really happened was Sir informing them of their rather rushed promotions, it was obvious why they were shoving out promotions that should not be given like this, they were a brand new military after all, starting out with nothing but children with no battles under their belts, so they had to first build the ranks, improve over time, then master them, not even the ranks were set in stone, what to call each rank? So far these were the ranks for the new Militia.

1:-Civilian: It's obvious these are civilians, anyone on this rank isn't in the group, sometimes though anyone within the group has to listen to them, after all most of the Clients are Civilians.

2:-Trainee: Basically everyone at Washington, where you have discipline beaten into you, it's the front of any boot camp, so all the kids that are rejected or pass the offer given to them to become what they aren't, will be sent back, no harm done, the perfect cover up, as no-one would expect a common boot camp to be a recruitment center for the organization.

3:-Cadet: is basically everyone who was called 'Pvt's' for the first few days at Camp Musket or Flintlock where they're already disciplined, and hopefully ready and willing to serve… basically it's the trial, you know the saying one foot in the grave? Well, this place is one foot in and one foot out… it's the choice of a normal life or a life of death… the second chance for some people.

4:-Ensons: Which is when the real training begins, they teach you how to punch, kick, and kill, they give you a knife you stab, they give you a gun you shoot, they give you a book you read, they teach you what you chose to do, to serve loyally as an unnamed gun-man, these are essentially unofficial soldier's, but can now technically be sent out on whatever missions there are, the first few missions here are just some Recon and Collection, nothing really serious yet, but occasionally some are chosen for the trial of 'Soul'...

5:-Soul: Initiatiate is more like it, only way to get soul is to claim a soul, yeah, no turning back as soon as you get this rank, as soon as you get soul is as soon as you are officially a full-time 'Employee'. For the idiots that don't understand this it's the people who have killed, they are cleared for missions like… well, anything that involves death really… These are also Squad Leader's, which consist of at most five people, and at least three people.

6:-Mara: Short for Marauder, this rank is pretty much soul but much more experienced and skilled, they're mostly used for Raids and Convoys, pretty average stuff any soldier would do, they are also Platoon leader's, which usually consist of at most, five squads, and at least two squads.

7:-Vet: The Veteran Rank, the most experienced Soul rank you can find, this rank just show's how much stronger and usually smarter they are, these are valuable soldier's with a lot of experience, usually these people are in charge… not necessarily an important rank, but if your lost, they'll point ya in the right direction, weather it be to your bunk, or which objective your off to, they are also usually known to be Company Leader's, which consist of at most five Platoons, to at least two Platoons.

8:-Roy: Some people may not be warriors, but it would take a fool to not recognise a fighter, don't be fooled, they can fight, but usually they prefer puzzles, this rank is what you'd call the intelligence department, the eggheads that develop technology's for this private militia, they're also the 'behind-enemy-lines' kind of people, they're spies, engineer's, scientists, doctors. The whole nine-yards, if you need something, they'll most likely have it.

9:-Pol: And here we have the people who play everything by the books, essentially these are the most loyal soldier's… simply put these guys are Military Police, if there's any internal conflict, they'll make sure to put you back in line, they know their place, and they'll let you know yours, this rank is currently filled in with the instructors.

10:-Knight: The Brains and the Bronze, the best of the best, Elites… in Roman terms they are Praetorians, they can sometimes go on missions, but most times they're seen guarding the high ranking officials, not just within this Private Militia, but around the world as well for high ranking VIP's, for example, King's, Queen's, Minister's, President's, etc etc, anyone who's too important to risk, or at least has the money. This rank is shrouded in secrets. The Risks unknown.

11:-Officer: Born leader's, Expert's in combat, Not-to-be-fucked-with. These are the living, breathing examples of what this Private Militia expects, it's not often, but if you show to be useful enough, you can jump all the other ranks up to here, their tactical geniuses, and an aura of authority that would make most bend to their will, these are people that come around once-in-a-lifetime, they are usually expected to be Battalion Leader's, which consist of at most five Companies, to at least four Companies.

12:-Commandant: This rank… well, essentially they're the same as an Officer's rank, but far more experienced, they also act as politicians and peacekeeper's and negotiator's, though they are shrouded in mystery, they are known to be Regiment Leader's which consist of at most six Battalions, to at least two Battalions, in some cases they have direct subordinate Officers instead of Battalions.

13:-Council: the Council are pretty much the people who built this group together, though they cut their ties to whatever government that funded this project, they look after the group, in the King's absence they make decisions like any council does… hopefully they won't turn corrupted over time.

14:-King/Queen: Reserved for he/she who leads and rules this project, their word is law, this rank is shrouded in mystery…

That's the base of it anyway, unfortunately the only ranks that are currently filled in are Civilian, Trainee, Cadet, Enson, Pol, Officer, Commandant, Council and King, as for everyone else… only time will tell… ah, yes, as for how long it had been? Let's say a year. Remember the fact that their on the bottom of a mountain, welp, they're living up there now on the final base… HQ, the name of HQ would be called: 'Unknown', no seriously, it's name is unknown… get it? Like, Salt's name is Salt, Pepper is Pepper and Base is called Unknown, so if they were ever asked about HQ all they'd need to respond with is 'Unknown'... lol

So this is basically what happened to our little protagonists, they had to climb up that mountain, and live up there, and search for the hidden bunker somewhere up there… once they found it they lived the life of monks, so as to bring a form of inner peace to them or something, they practiced every day and night, they were even told to be silent the entire time, this lead them to slowly turn mute, not literally mind you, but anyone they met would assume they were unable to speak…

Unfortunately for them, taking an officer's rank forces them into different 'Cores', it's simple really, each council member has a commandant that reports directly to them, so if they so chose, they could have their own civil war over power for their own gains, it made sense at the time, seeing as how they technically have their own laws separate from each of the governments, the cores usually had different ideals and opinions, especially with how they operate.

Once Salt had finished his Officer's training (if you could call it that, considering they barely had any real standards set) along with Ebony, Pepper, Sugar, and a few other people he had yet to meet, they were all ordered to move back to their respective camps, in his case, camp musket… in a way nothing really changed, except for the fact that it looked like a small town of children in uniform, everything seemed to be perfectly normal… it was unnerving.

You couldn't exactly blame him, this was just like the place he grew up in, and the place he grew up in never really welcomed him… though now that he thought about it, most of his supported development was here actually, he spent less than a month down on the bottom of the mountain in Washington was maybe five minutes, in Musket half a year… but he had lived on top of that mountain for a pretty long time… the ex-monks they were privileged to learn from grasp a better hold on his more… unstable thoughts, he was much calmer, he wasn't aware of how stressed he was until he finally went up the mountain.

Vaguely he remembered how hard it was for Pepper to stay silent once they reached the top, but once the classes started she seemed to be feeling better too, she even somehow kept her lips sealed the whole time… he really missed the sound of her voice… Ebony's too… but at the same time he was relieved, another thing that helped were the drumming classes, one of the monks on that mountain seemed pretty enthusiastic about the american revolution, especially the part that had something to do with the drummer boys…

After learning more about the revolutionary war he saw the benefit of learning of the drummer boys, especially in the officer's program, after all, they did (As far as he was concerned) lead the battles and command the rest of the units… they were leaders, so as some kind of formality, each of the officer's had to learn drum marches, no one seemed to mind… perfect sync… all those years of not speaking a word, absorbing knowledge, and drumming in a peaceful environment (whenever they weren't fighting) he firmly believed that this made him a better person.

Speaking of being a better person, he was now wearing his official Officers Uniform, which consisted of Silver cloak and his clothes being black, with the Red roman numeral XI on his shoulders, solidifying his rank, and cross Muskets above it, signifying loyalties. He still wore combat boots and cargo pants with sword (Rapier), even his suspenders, he also continued to wear the welding goggles and fingerless gloves (Which everyone also seemed to have acquired a pair of their own)… his beanie also still held true, but now, instead of it being the anarchy emblem, it was also a XI numeral. The standard uniform colors at the camp for the moment would be Black, Silver and Red, that was their color scheme, individuality didn't belong as soon as you decide to join, you have your rank, your gun, and your order's… (If you weren't an Officer…)

Only Knight's rank and above were allowed to wear robes, and the only way to identify rank were the roman numerals on each other's body, another eye-catching feature on his body would be his satchel which was, of course, Black (xD) the Officers around him all wore their own eye-catching features as well of course, but he was barely paying attention to any of them, besides, their own robes (Or Cloaks in some cases) mostly obscured what they wore anyway.

No, at the moment he was thinking of what had transpired on the TV show that was his life with the mute button on voices somehow for the past year, from what he could tell, his once close friendship (while still close) had drifted slightly apart between him Pepper and Ebony, it had nothing to do with him, quite the opposite really, from his observations it seems they have grown _very close_ , it was a bit strange when he realized it, but when he did he felt immensely happy for them, even if he saw them both as sister's, it wasn't too hard to adapt his opinion of them, at first it felt like incest they were so close, but he quickly altered their status to : 'In-laws', he also decided that if he ever had kids, they would be their god parents… if he ever even has the chance…

Even now, as he looked at them he could only nod in silent approval, he suspected that Ebony may have liked Pepper, but he wasn't really good with romance, 'meh, whatever, it all ended well.' at least for their chapter of life, it was time for him to move onto a new chapter, today was election day, and by election day, it meant all the Commandant's will be looking for Officer's today, it was very unlikely that he and his companions were going to get the same commandant, and he accepted that, and even if they were given the same Commandant it wouldn't matter in the end, because as soon as they were picked, he'd be sent on sleeper duty, most of them would, the ones who won't be are going to help manage the camp and her occupants.

As most of you have likely guessed, Sleeper duty is where your pretty much sent back to live with society, be a normal kid, play games, make some friends, just go back to their old life and wait for when they are needed, a few Soul ranks are also going on sleeper duty… they were really going to miss home when their sent on duty, but once they do get called back, they can be reunited with their brother's and sister's… if you were wondering, this place is their home now, those places they came from before they got here… it is no longer their homes

 **(A/N: Huh… well, I'm not sure what I'm doing… and I know the story suddenly sped up like 'holy fuckity tit' but hey, I got some people who were a bit disappointed in me stopping… so I sped up because I just didn't want to be trapped in Musket with a bunch of OC's (Which I was gonna use as plot fodder btw, where I pretty much kill every single OC I make for the sake of not allowing the unworthy to take my little OC Babies) so I sped it up, gave the long story short of what they experienced, he's got some inner piece, he sees Ebby and Pep as sister's now (So technically his new real fam) and he's matured mentally, and with the help of peaceful killer monks… you get the idea, anyway I've been working on a few other stories (which I haven't uploaded as of yet) and as I was working I looked back at the original pieces I made (This story and the other) and thought: 'meh, why not' so I worked on this for a bit.**

 **No guarantees that I'll continue this, I got someone offering to adopt this story for me, and I might just do so, though I am incredibly reluctant to do so, as it feels like I'm… being unfair to myself and everyone else, myself because I'd abandon this prematurely without pushing harder, and everyone else because they would never see what I truly wished this story to be.**

 **On that note, I'm pleased to announce that, while I'm deciding to do with these stories, I might end up continuing, depending on how many review's I recieve, depending on what happens though I'm still likely tempted to give my story up for adoption, thank you all for reading, and share your opinions with me, I appreciate honesty and care, Thank you!~)**


	4. Chapter 3: Hunter Monks?

Chapter #3: Into The Dark

'Wonder if I'll get a good commandant…?' Salt idly thought as he stared blankly through his goggles and trudged through the snow, it had been an hour since they began their trek down the mountain in their formal/field uniforms, none of the Officer's present gave a second thought to the current blizzard spitting into their faces, none of them had even registered the ice with negative feelings, instead, they were all sharing common thoughts about 'Election day' it was their graduation after all, the day they've all been waiting for since the beginning of their enlistment.

They were excited, and very nervous, it was okay to be afraid they learned, but none of them were… they were finally going to _do_ something besides learning, they wanted to use their knowledge and succeed, to finally accomplish something glorious! For years they sat in that damn HQ (which turned out being some sort of Temple), doing nothing but work til' they passed out without even a single day off.

They didn't want all this work to be for nothing, to be polished up like dolls to just sit there and look pretty, they wanted action… they wanted to be needed by the world again… sitting up inside that temple all this time has made them realize how truly lonely they were, and after so long they outgrew their bitter feelings of the world, they wanted… _needed_ something, _anything_ , even with all that time in the strange temple full of knowledge they wanted answers.

Of course they got answers, but nothing satisfying enough to calm their anxiety, for the first few months it was assumed to only be teenage angst, but as time passed the monks inside the temple taught them who they were… they're Human, specifically, outcasts to the world, children with no childhood. These Officer's learned that they seeked to be at peace with their old life before getting accustomed to their new ones… they wanted to be _needed_ again.

Salt violently shook his head. 'No time to start bitching about stuff like feelings, I'll bury those feelings when I get older, when more time has passed… I'm busy right now, gotta save the world and graduate and junk… I should start thinking of a speech though, in case graduation need's that sort of thing.' he mentally mused, continuing his trek down the- 'hold up a second…' he pulled up his goggles and realized the only evidence of there being any snow earlier was the ice falling off his and everyone else's cloak's… however long they've been walking it seems they're finally getting close to Camp now.

He stared blankly ahead, hiding his feelings of excitement at finally seeing the outside of that temple, it was a beautiful temple, sure, but after seeing for months it kinda feels like staring at drying paint… great, now he was remembering his patience lesson where they literally had to watch paint dry for hours without moving from their spots or falling asleep or… well… anything really… it wasn't the funnest class but it did allow him to come up with various scenarios during said class, while paying attention to the lesson.

It was hard truthfully, but ultimately he felt it was worth it, dreaming with your eyes open while doing one class and preparing for another is one way to always be prepared, to always stay focused, when something as boring (yet strangely interesting) as watching paint dry, you must learn to utilize your imagination or face boredom at the risk of dulled senses… in the end he was happy he had the class, it allowed him to get his mind straight, while some found it as torture, he found himself... painting a canvas, so to speak.

Though he doubt the lesson meant the same to the other student's, it certainly made them all improve somehow in their own special way, while his was a little unorthodox, it wasn't uncommon, surely at least one other person who did this felt the same or at least a even slightly similar right? 'Great job Salt, your going to end up giving a speech on drying paint… I'll just wing it.' He mentally shrugged, it's not like he hasn't been winging it the whole way, he never planned to come here, he never planned to stay, it was just a split-second decision… and he didn't regret the decision he made, as stated before, it made him an overall better person.

'You're doing it again.' he mentally scolded himself, he blinked away his daydreams, noticing his group were approaching a much larger group near the fork of both Musket and Flintlock… 'Wonder what this is about, likely an escort, or perhaps some off-duty troops curious about the first Officer's batch?'

He clicked his tongue with mild amusement, being sure to make his face as hard as stone, just like when he left… he, along with everyone else in the current group had to set an example, beacon's of expectations, or as he personally liked to think about it, the 'Elder Siblings', for they were all brother's and sister's in the end weather they liked it or not… they were family.

It looked like the other group had been waiting for hour's for something, but at the approach of the silver cloaks they all visibly perked up at attention, not a single one of them wore a cloak. Like the Officer's, the rest of the troops wore blacks and reds, they all looked the same really, in fact he would have mistaken them all for clones if not for the different facial features height's, colors and genders…

Oh, there were also different ranks and emblems on them as well, lot's of Soul's and Mara's, which Salt recognizes most of them as the same group he was sent here with, but also a much larger crowd of Enson's.

The next thing the group of Officer's noticed was the visible levels of respect each had on their faces, while many Mara's lowered their heads. Be it in shame, submission or respect he wasn't sure, a few Soul's followed their example, but most of the Enson's… looked arrogant and smug, it was a sight that greatly disappointed him, he was only gone for… however long and already they're stepping out of line, hadn't he set an example for the other's to give the newbies when he left, he suddenly realized that indeed, some of the lowered heads were likely out of shame, luckily some few Ensons looked on in awe, even if some of them were older than he… 'hopefully I can salvage this.'

The Officers approached the 'Welcoming Party' with unwavering confidence, their footsteps blending into a steady march, if there were more of them they'd definitely make for a very intimidating sight… then again, it is pretty intimidating when you remember these people were graduates at the top of their class, who knows what they've been doing since they left, they might even have a large amount of battles under their belts.

The rumours about them before they left didn't help either, how just one of them could easily take down whole squads of elites and instead of breaking a sweat they'd laugh psychotically, (Which was likely just Pepper taking down the bullies and hot heads when they were escorting the deserter's and such, talk about rumours getting out of hand.)

The leading Officer, who he vaguely recalled being designated as 'Fluff', suddenly stopped, the Officer behind her stepped to her right, the one behind him stepped to her left, and so on and so forth, it seems the rest of the Officer's shared his thoughts exactly… or perhaps they were just curious, after all they still didn't know the reason they were here. 'Wait a minute… something isn't right here…'

He started scanning the crowd over. 'Had the other's seen it before me? I can't possibly be getting rusty already.' Salt wondered, he looked into as many eyes as he could, most of them had a faraway look, he checked the area where most of the uneasy feeling was coming from, near the back of the crowd… and what is that stench?

He quietly grunted questioningly to the other's, only a few gave their various agreement's be it grunting, tapping something or even a simple nod, they spotted trouble as well, unfortunately it seems only a few Officer's spotted the trouble, as the rest only click in annoyance… during their time in the temple they didn't like to talk, some simply felt uncomfortable, other's literally felt a sort of pain hit them when they opened their mouth, even breathing up there was hard enough without the… chemical, the dust, the powder or perhaps even the fog floating around.

They felt it was dangerous to make noise up there, sometimes they were able to speak, sometimes they play their drums or even chant their songs and prayers, but every time they did they never let down their guard, it was an unspoken agreement that speaking was highly disrespectful and frowned upon up in the temple… strangely enough, even after they had left they simply didn't feel the need to speak.

'When was the last time I had spoken?' Salt wondered. Shaking away his distracting thoughts he subtly tapped his sword belt with his bracelet, allowing the charm to let off a light jingling note in the cold unnerving air, he was suggesting further investigation, and caution of course... there was a moment of hesitation from a few Officers, but the ones who didn't hesitate immediately agreed with him, and started spreading around the group, their gloved hands slowly but firmly reaching for the hilt of their respective blades, their audience looking on in either obliviousness or confusion at their actions, and a select few looking on in dread.

Salt had made this kind of decision before, and more often than believed he was wrong… but the past mistakes he made when it came to such an unnerving decision had taught him correctly what to do, he felt it in the air, the unfamiliarity, the hostility, some would argue it would just be the tension between his group and the greeting party, what with how negative the reactions they received.

And they would be both right and wrong, he was positive that that's where most of these feelings came from, but he felt a core problem here, something completely out of place in their otherwise normal world… what reinforced these beliefs was that each of the Officer's that had immediately agreed with him were part of the first wave, like him, were Sugar, Pepper, Ebony, Flu, Piper and the Twins… their backgrounds helped as well.

Piper was a gang leader before he came here, he could spot trouble from a mile away in a crowd of hundreds.

Ebony was smart enough to see deceiver's ever since her personal experience of being deceived herself, the training/therapy from the temple helped her both find peace with the fact, and improve her suspicion and distress…

And finally Pepper, he didn't know the specifics of how or why with her since they weren't as close as they use to be, but when the time came they stuck together when it counted, so if she was sticking with him at the current moment, then this definitely meant trouble…

He personally believed that over the course of the next few minutes his actions will be justified, even if he was somehow punished, even if he was somehow _wrong_ , he could take comfort in the fact that they still trusted his judgement, even if others disagreed with it.

The last three simply decided to follow their lead, they were new to the temple but they caught up quick thanks to some of the Officer's (Including himself) tutoring during their free time, ever since then they seemed to look up to the various 'volunteer' tutor's and followed their lead/judgement without question… even though they were suppose to learn to be independent.

Salt lowered his hood further when he felt the breeze attempting to steal away his identity, he had to keep all the cards he had in his hand, otherwise whatever influence many of these people were under may somehow fall upon him as well, it was a flimsy reason, but also the best way to start, never give an inch and keep pushing forward... the influence could be the stench he breathed in earlier, it did try to push away his focus, maybe it was a hive mind that was trying to breach his mental defences… on that note he subtly tightened his scarf just in case, his eyes peering through with barely contained suspicion.

He couldn't be too careful, for all he knew the reason why they were called back earlier was some sort of ploy to lure out the remaining troops, or even to get rid of their current best… paranoia was a problem to many, even for the ones with overactive imaginations, but for him, it was a tool that gave him the advantage of perspective, even though it sounded ridiculous, the stuff that happened up in the Temple was worthy of being called numerous names… usually starting with the word 'Madhouse', and it wouldn't be far from the truth.

The hesitant Officer's ultimately decided to stay back and observe, see how the current situation played out, it was a safe and likely the best bet, if there was a problem they could evaluate it and act accordingly, if there wasn't any trouble, then they wouldn't be facing any backlash when the time came to hand out the blame… they'll call it a mis-judgement on the acting Officer's part…

The advancing Officer's noticed their retreating companions but did not protest nor pause, there was a threat within their grasp and they will not allow it to slip through their fingers, no matter how slippery the snake may have been, even if they had no backup and were outnumbered greatly, they continued, each at their own pace, either beginning to circle around the second group, or simply advancing towards them, they were going to pick and prod until they get a satisfying reaction.

The larger group were now starting to get nervous, seeing the various reactions, it didn't help that nobody had spoken yet, or the fact that the Officer's had Swords and Armor while they only had Knives… 'What's going on?' thought some. 'What are they doing?' thought other's… but a single isolated mind simply came to the conclusion of. '... Oh shit.' when he she noticed that the reactions she was getting from the Officer's were not actions she was expecting to be getting from at worst children and at best simple soldier's, when she was proding their defences they were immediately alert… they were acting like Hunter's for fuck's sake, and their weapons… they weren't just any metal swords, those were _Silver Swords_ … she had unwittingly somehow snuck into a camp of children who were trained to hunt down creatures. _Just Like Her._

She had realized this about two months ago, but by the time she had figured it out she couldn't exactly slip away… and soon the temptation had settled in, after all, she already had most (if not all) of the camp under her control, simply too good an opportunity to pass up, of course now she was having second thoughts once again.

She immediately tried to play off her panic as simple nervousness at their actions like the rest… 'What the hell did I stumble into?'... meet the 'Siren' a creature that preys on weak minds and weak willed souls to get what she wants by either subtly putting an idea in their head, making them forget completely… or all out controlling them… when she came to this camp she had disguised herself as a delinquent and had done her best to get sent to a camp a great deal similar to this one, she liked the idea of slowly taking over a camp far away from any form of civilization and bending it to her will, these types of creatures vary in both class and motives.

What she was not aware of was that she had (Id say literally but it didn't go down that way) unintentionally walked right into the Den of Wolves… or rather, a Den of Hunter's, which in her case was far worse than some mutts, now that she was piecing together the puzzle she realized that these Hunter's were (judging by rumors) likely going to be her end, lest she make her move. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… fuuuck~.' it was hard enough trying to shake away that 'one' apprentice hunter those years back… but now there were a pack of them, armed to the teeth with who knows what besides Silver… and again, judging by the rumor's they were very, _very_ experienced.

Salt felt the air become thicker, the tension was likely trying to choke the air out of him, luckily he had lived in a place where the air would attack him, instead of just hide from his lungs, so it barely fazed him, he continued looking for irregularities… whoever made this haze was strong, likely an older trooper, he inspected them each closely, they each had various reactions, some were nervous, some looked guarded, most confused, many arrogant… but tired, they were not very focused at all, how in the nine circles of hell did they obtain the ranks that they did? While he may have trained his mind with peace and tolerance, his peace was quickly breaking and tolerance waning… they needed to put an end to this quickly.

'Look for the irregular.' he began sweeping his gaze through his subordinates, from the sweat on their brows to their quivering shins, he didn't bother skipping over anyone, even his former 'classmates' as he once knew them, for all he knew it was a shapeshifter, perhaps a demon possessing one of his younger comrades, they all turned away at his cold gaze, he wasn't an especially cold person as of recent years… but he was definitely unhappy with how things currently were, ' _these_ are the troops we're supposed to be leading, they might as well behead me right now.' he thought bitterly when his gaze finally locked onto one who obviously looked like they didn't belong.

He knew because she wasn't in a haze even though she was in the middle of it all, he knew because her knife holster was already unlatched and prepared to retaliate any oncoming attacks unlike the others, he knew because all of the outside senses were doing all they could to stop him from focusing on her… he knew because this… this was the moment he trained for, and because it _just felt right!_

Slowly he looked away and unsheathed his blade in a subtle fashion, just quiet enough not to unnerve her more than he already was, but just loud enough to get the attention of one of his comrades. More than anything he would like to do this by himself, but he wasn't arrogant, he wasn't foolish, nor was he a glory hound… that was just begging for a quick end, he had to lead by example for the rest of these mislead souls, his comrades attention wasn't lost on him, he was being slow, because they knew that if they spooked whatever was doing this to their comrades… who knows what could happen, he never stopped moving, never scanned the crowd for threats just in case, but he continued to circle the girl, slightly dragging his feet… he was sure they'd get his message if they were as observant as he was.

Sure enough, they did, and seeing as they didn't have any better suspects and were following his lead anyway, they quickly shuffled through the crowd and surrounded the girl, before she Siren had understood what was going on they unanimously drew their blades and pointed them on various sides of her throat. The Siren was surprised and had no idea how they found her so quickly, what had she done wrong? How had they figured out it was her so quickly? But most importantly. 'Why aren't I dead yet?' she was quick to attempt drawing her blade, but found that each of the blades started to press warningly into her neck, the fact that she had reacted this way had been added to the slowly adding pile of evidence stacked against her, her mind ran through all the possibilities and options she had at her disposal but was interrupted when someone cleared their throat in a rather commanding manner.

The crowd, too stunned to react to how things had progressed still hadn't said a word, were interrupted from their shock by said clearing of said commanding throat, as soon as they heard it a majority of their attention fell onto a boy wearing a Pol uniform, which consisted of an identical uniform to everyone else, the only difference between them was that it was a dark blue color, with a roman numeral IX, stating his rank clear as day. "Soul Moira, by unanimous decree of all F.A.F. Officer's, you are hereby under arrest." he stated with an air of authority that only the Officer's didn't flinch at. "Under what Charges?" questioned the Siren, the Pol didn't answer her and continued forward, his only indication of a response was a nod towards the Officer's who were apparently declared as F.A.F.

No one expected them to respond, which only served to shock them when they actually did, in a very uncommon manner. "Hiding under false identity within the camp." answered one. "Taking control over others free will." stated another. "Suspicion of assault to comrades." said a third. "Theft." a fourth. "Kidnapping." fifth. "Suspected Murder." sixth. "And Plotting against we who had taken you in." finished the first, completing the verse. It was shocking to actually hear them speak, it was shocking that within seconds of being back they were already getting to work. Another alarming thought was how _rough_ their voices sounded, as if they haven't spoken in ages, not to mention how _cold_ their tones were, and that was just how they spoke, they hadn't even touched how they were acting at the moment.

Currently Salt's thoughts were in a much happier place right now, not because they were already doing their job, but because he learned something about himself today. 'Apparently I'm apart of the F.A.F. how exciting, if anything happens I'll be among the first that's called into action!" he thought in giddy anticipation.

0-0-0-0-0

Salt was now standing in line with the rest of First Officer's, it was time for election, luckily he didn't have to give a speech after all, all he had to do was stand and wait, along with the rest of his Brother's and Sister's… after their arrest of 'Moira' they were separated into two groups, F.A.F. and F.D.F. … he was sorted into the former, everyone who decided to stay back (And surround the group) were all put into the ladder, no one questioned their decisions (at least not outwardly) and accepted their designated roles with smiles.

 _F.A.F. stood for: First Assault Force._

Are in charge of assault missions, being so little as one on one confrontation via assassination kidnapping or other, to full blown attacks on entire countries, and everything in between. Including rival groups from both outside and inside of the _Silver Arms Department_ or _S.A.D._ for short.

 _F.D.F. stood for: First Defense Force._

Are in charge of defense jobs from simple escorts for shipments of weapons and VIP's, to guarding HQ, training camps, temples, resources, other groups, civilians, prisoners, outposts, research facilities, prisons, refugee posts, etc etc. this also includes defense against other groups both inside and outside of S.A.D.

It's simple enough, and it wasn't necessarily hard to figure out their jobs, it also wasn't hard to actually _do_ said jobs, all in all he was happy to beput in F.A.F. even though he might never see the other Officer's again, and if he does, it'll be under much worse circumstances surely… though he was worried for Pepper and Ebony, hopefully they'll be elected together. "The following will now be designated with number's… Zero(00), proceed forward." called a random Pol who was sitting up the stairs and onto the observation deck, Salt stepped forward as told into the middle deck of the building, there were multiple pathways he could take, but he was not to move until told otherwise and where, this was the election process, the 'Elder's' or rather the Council were picking officer's that suited their needs and visions, some were aggressive, other's defensive, some quiet with their opinions with others voiced theirs perfectly, some cared about others while the rest cared only for themselves. No two were alike… and each of them were the founders of this organisation, otherwise known as S.A.D. … this moment would ultimately decide his future _again_.

There was a moment of silence, each of their eyes scrutinizing them, judging him, for better or for worse… "The following questions and commands must be answered honestly and followed to the letter… State your name unit Zero." commanded the Pol from before, he complied "Current designation is Zero." he saluted sharply, there was no need to show respect, but there must be a show of obedience, he also saw it as 'necessary' to go with the 'current' designation, after all during election was when you were renamed again, if you refused your new designation you'll keep your old name. "What is your Age 'Zero'." he asked. "Thirteen." he actually never knew his age, he never celebrated his birthday even before he came here, and his papers _were forged_ so for all he knew he could be a between ten to fifteen, so he continued to wing it.

"What is your Gender?" Another question. "I am a Musket." He stated with finality in his tone, that was a ridiculous question, why did they insist to ask such things? Did the outside world really change _that much?_ Gross. "Race?" He answered. "White." Question. "Origin." Answer. "America, California, forgot the town and don't care enough to remember." There was a nod and then another question. "Any Family?" Answer. "I'll pass on that." there was never a straight answer whenever he thought about it, and even if he did have an answer he was never going to point out who he cared about, that was a weakness, and he had no time for weakness. The questions went on like this, some were easy, other's needed a moment of thought, but in the end all questions were completed and he eventually had to move on.

A row of lights went on towards one of the doorways, apparently someone had heard enough and had elected them without wanting to see his physical abilities… oh well, he moved without question towards his future, and was very excited to meet his new Commandant, it hadn't occurred to him in that moment that this may be the last time he gets near any of his first wave siblings without one of them dead, dying, or trying to kill him.

0-0-0-0-0

He… wasn't quite sure what happened, one moment he was walking into an observation deck, the next he was geared up and immediately shipped out, he could only vaguely remembered the conversation he had with his Commandant earlier which was very... vague… all he got was a walmart greeter, y'know, a sorta. 'Welcome to walmart, get your shit and get out.' kind of thing, only it was modified so he was told 'Here's the job, Here's the tools, Here's the door, goodbye.' and next thing he knew he was in some sort of dropship, which in turn was then loaded to a much larger jet. Well, he was impatient and wanted action, be careful what you wish for he supposed… hey wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to be on sleeper duty? He wasn't sure how to feel about this… then again his job wasn't to have feelings, or to question orders for that matter…

It wasn't long before he noticed the rest of his supposed 'Troops' sitting in their seats, looking like they didn't have a care in the world, it was really pissing him off, no one even noticed he was here… time to change that. "Officer on deck shit stains! Get your asses out of your seats before I decide which of you looks best as a cripple." if he wasn't going to get their respect straight away, he'd command them with fear, even if they ended up hating him he'd rather they hated him than be dead because of him, they were his 'younger siblings' after all, this was for their own good.

The effect wasn't as quick as he would have liked, someone looked like they were about to tell him to 'Piss off.' but wisely decided to shut their second asshole stuck on their faces where their mouths shoulda been, and did as they was told, upon receiving Zero's commanding glare, one stood and muttered an 'aye sir.' upon his words the following of 'yessirs.' and 'aye sirs.' followed, but none of them were shouting, there was no unison or uniformity, the salutes were sloppy… where the hell were his troops?

"Attention cock sucklers! Where the fuck are my Troops! I need them here a week ago without slapping asses or kissing cock!" his voice was on the verge of snarling, he was only barely annoyed, but now it's really slipping through, an older, slightly taller boy approached him with confidence. "Watch your mouth kid, I might have to tell your mama and wash it's dirtiness out with soap." he mocked, there was a chorus of laughter throughout the entire deck. "Are you lost? Do you want some cand- ." he was prematurely interrupted when Sal-... ehm… 'Zero' snatched his subordinates collar, then jerked his head forward violently and without much else warning, there was a resounding crack that filled the drop chamber before Zero repeated said head buttage, then tossed him forward, when he hit the ground he slid down the rows where the rest of the agaped mouths of his apparent Trooper's stood in shock… and slight disbelief.

The boy slid to a stop when he hit the wall at the end with a loud *Thump* that filled the now silent chamber, it was silent for a good fifteen seconds when they turned their gazes fell back to the apparent Officer on deck, his expression of anger calmed somewhat, but his eyes were now dull, and his expression was of boredom. "Let me repeat the question senile motherfuckers, Where the **fuck are my Troop's**?!" he punctuated his words by slamming his boot onto the steeled salt floor, which resulted in the whole ship shaking in response to his now obvious anger. Shakily, the Trooper's all saluted unanimously in fear and responded correctly: "Present Sir!~" he put a hand to his ear? "Oh I'm fuckin sorry, mind speaking up cum stains?!" he put a hand to his blade and started to pull it from it's sheathe, when they saw this action they responded in kind. "Yes Sir!" for a moment he stopped and looked around the chamber as if in surprise. "Oh? Looky here, looks like I have my own private choir for my daily praying rituals, ain't that right Trooper's?"

"Yes Sir!" he smirked sadistically. "Mhmm, that's more like it, now show me your not just some dressed up dolls and show me your power, Left Boots!" unanimously each boot lifted and stomped back onto the cold steel floor which likely freaked the pilots out, judging by the way the whole plane jerked suddenly, he didn't give them time to think. "Right Boots!" they did as instructed once more. "Now give me a Death March!" now they were stomping their boots steadily, making the whole chamber sound like the S.S. were at someone's door. "If even a single one of you cock sleeved cum buckets falls out of rhythm, or goddesses forbid actually _stop…_ I'm going to stomp on your spines _repeatedly_ , you hear me Trooper's?!" they chorused their 'Yes Sir.' and all that crap, when he opened up his data pad that was suppose to debrief them for the mission. "Now listen up meat shields! Today's mission is to retake one of our research facilities, each of you will be split up into your own assigned squads, these are your objectives."

Primary Objectives:

Objective #1: Retake the facility.

Objective #2: Recover any/all data.

Objective #3: Destroy any/all remaining data.

Objective #4: Capture and/or recapture any escapees.

Secondary Objectives:

Objective #1: Search and rescue for any survivors/hostages.

Objective #2: Execute/Detain any/all outside witnesses.

Objective #3: Don't have any orgies when I'm not looking (or when I'm looking fuckwits).

Objective #4: Document _everything._

Best case scenario: Everyone dies prematurely. (Except me of course.)

Worse case scenario: Turn around right now and nothing happens.

Likelihood of Success: 46%

"Any stupid questions rejects?" he 'politely' asked… they responded with a quick' "No Sir!" he quietly sighed in relief, he hated yelling, especially since it hurt his mostly unused throat… they're lucky he gives a damn. "Now halt that glorious marching and put on your gear!" he said in a slightly more relaxed tone, immediately everyone stopped marching and started panting excessively and shuffled over to their respective drop boxes for their gear… as they were ordered to. "Alright children, for more details about the mission, either use common sense, or use your damn huds… with our remaining time I want all of you…" they all immediately tensed, he was already scaring them, but now he was turning into a fucking nightmare… why was he an Officer again?

"Say your final prayer's to whatever gods or goddesses you believe in, if you have no god, that's fine by me, just don't try to fuck with anyone while they do…" with that he moved towards the closest drop clip to the door and hooked himself up, so that'd he'd be the first to set boots on the ground, then he started making small hand gestures while muttering in what many were certain was a different language. "Brigid, Branwen, Caireen, Cerridwen, Macha, Morrigan, Hestia, Artemis, Athena, Gaia, Frigg, Hella, Calypso, and more, please heed my player and watch over me and my brother's and sister's tonight, Moon Goddesses, please reveal these vile creatures so that we may hunt un-deceived, Love and Home Goddesses, please bless us with the will to power through this, and give the remaining a peaceful place to sleep, War and Death Goddesses, please give us the power to power through my hunt with my foolish siblings, or at least watch in amusement as I slay these creatures in your name… Gaia, our fate rests in your hands." he continued to pray and pray to whatever goddesses there were, but never did he utter the name of a single male god… not once.

A brave few who decided to approach him decided to simply listen to him, or pray alongside him, their heads bowed, eyes closed and hearts and minds open to his words, the rest had decided to either check their gear, stare outside of the hatch, got seated, or tended to the idiot with the concussion. After a few minutes of ultimately uncommon events, he eventually ended his 'prayer's'... "Alright… attention trooper's, we are two minutes from drop point, as soon as we're dropped, we're on our own." as soon as he began speaking everyone rushed over to their respective drop clips, all lining up behind him, giddy to finally get some action.

He couldn't blame them, after all he too was ecstatic, though he could tell that many were excited, they were also deeply afraid… 'can't turn back now.' he interally laughed, when the thirty second marker appeared on a screen above them he shouted. "Gear check!~" quickly everyone went through their own gear and each other's and before they knew it, they had five seconds left. "Masks on, huds down!~" as soon as words left his mouth the whole pod began shaking and shuddering.

'And that signals the beginning of our mission.' he mused he could hear the wind whipping much more erratically outside, and he could feel his heart drop into his stomach, they were literally dropping like an amusement park ride… how entertaining, seemingly everyone shared his thoughts as they all began yelling and squealing in delight, other's were clenching onto their clip ropes, weapons or even each other.

'Glad I'm not the only one enjoying myself.' thought the now briefly dense Zero, in reality they were all scared shitless, the ones who didn't pray suddenly were doing so, for fear they would die, the engines were suppose to kick on about now, at least in the simulations they were, what went wrong? The simple truth is, this is how it _really_ worked, the engines only kicked on automatically after release if it's on autopilot… thankfully we have a clinically insane pilot who's an active thrill seeker… he won't hear any complaining from the Officer on deck, that's for sure.

Right when they started getting a little close for comfort the engines finally kicked on from it's suicidal glide through what was apparently a rainstorm… how cliche. After a few seconds of the troops catching their hearts from their stomachs or throats, there was a loud *Thump* and the large hatch door dropped open, the first one out the door was obviously the only one who didn't freak out… if you haven't guessed yet you must be skipping a shitton of my hard written words… lol

He quickly brought up his Omni-Rifle and quickly scanned the area, it was very dark, the rain was pouring, **Hard** , fortunately his armor was thick enough, combined with him being used to worse conditions, that he was able to ignore it without much effort… a few seconds later a few trooper's passed him and started searching the area, trying to either follow his example or get his recognition for their hard work, a quick check of the area confirmed that they seemed to be in some sort of forrest in a hidden canyon, the trees were thick and dark, like a jungle… wait, this is a jungle, they were standing on top of a structure made of concrete and metal, the only visible way inside was a small security looking room with the glass cracked and coated with fresh looking blood and a door hanging slightly ajar and claw marks visible all over it.

He motioned for anyone near him to follow, and for the rest to search the area, then quickly darted for the small structure, without bothering for subtly, he kicked the door off its hinges and looked inside the admittedly small compartment, the first thing he noticed was a man in a guards uniform lying dead on the floor, with a smoking pistol in his left hand and a hole through his noggin… the blood behind his head from where the bullet exited was still dripping slightly, they must have gotten here a few seconds too late, the second thing he noticed was the radio and camera equipment littered around the room, the radio had nothing but white noise, and the cameras looked to be completely totaled.

And finally he noticed a distinct set of controls sitting near the window overlooking the rest of the metal platform outside, this was clearly a set of elevator controls, they found their entrance. "All units, all units, rally back on me, we found our entrance, be prepared for the first set of order's issued out." he turned his head to the squad that followed him in. "alright get me a few Roy's in here and get this equipment back up to speed in, and recover any data in those drives, I wanna know what we're dealing with and how long they've been out, got it? Good." he didn't wait for an answer, they knew what to do, this was their job after all, before he walked out he said. "And get rid of that fucking body, use it as bait if you fucking have to."

He walked back to the platform outside where the squads were waiting. "Any of you find anything out of the ordinary?" only one person stepped forward and said. "Yes sir, it seems there's a large area in the south-east that's fresh with track of something fleeing the facility." Zero nodded, quietly counting how many people he had to work with, and quickly set down a plan. "Okay, each squad with consist of five Troops, Alpha squad will be sitting in the control room getting things back to working order again, Bravo will guard the area and Alpha squad, Charlie and Delta will go after whatever apparently fled to the south-east."

"Echo and Foxtrot will be entering the facility to fulfill the objectives, we don't have any idea how big the facility is or how long we'll be here, so for the meantime we're going to be switching out roles every six hours, I want constant updates to your blackboxes, if we don't get any updates within fifteen minutes we'll assume your dead… remember, we don't have any idea what we're dealing with yet, so stay on guard. Questions?"

This time he did pause because of obvious reasons, when one raised a hand. "What about you sir?" asked one of the girls, he answered. "I'm going into the facility with Echo and Foxtrot, the primary objective is down there after all. Any more questions?" when no one stepped forward or raised their voices, it automatically translated to. "Then let's get to fucking work," and with that, everyone set off towards their usual squads and did the job most suited for them.

Briefly Echo and Foxtrot stood near the edge of the platform where the doors would open up, Zero looked over to Alpha and saw them doing their thing inside the room, after a few seconds they looked up from their work and gave a thumbs up in his direction, he responded with a curt nod, and suddenly the platform doors began opening, when it finished opening the elevator that sat just beneath it came up fully…

To reveal plenty of bodies just sitting there, people in lab coats and security uniforms, as the elevator came to a halt he noticed a gas briefly move through the atmosphere then dissipate… he raised his rifle and cautiously moved towards the corpse pile, a few people on the comms had various reactions and stated quite simply that they were gonna be sick, he couldn't blame them, this was pretty gory after all.

The first body he approached seemed to be another man in a white coat, he was on his stomach which prompted our protagonist to kick the body onto his back, as soon as he saw his face… he turned back to that innocent boy who had loved mysteries and played with his sister every day… before the incident… but as quickly as the old him surfaced, his new self beat the old self back into place and took control, he didn't have time for any of that nonsense, he had a job to do. He looked back to the mans face again, it was blackened as if burned, but wrinkled like he had aged against his will, there were no teeth, and his eyes were bloodshot… it even looked like he was crying blood…

His cheeks looked to be sunken, and his hair, or what's left of it anyway looked like it turned to oil and sunk into his facial features… when he looked at the rest of his body he noticed the clothes were shredded and burned, but not from the outside, instead it was on the inside… "okay, let's get a few hygienically sealed body bags here, the rest of the bodies need to be burned away, who knows what the fuck would happen it we touched them directly, or even just leave them here in the open like this… and congrats Alpha and Bravo, looks like you'll have something extra to do while we're inside…" he meant to be sarcastic, but they seemed quite eager at the prospect of actually getting new objective to do… well, some of them anyway, the rest of them looked ready to be sick or looked like they wouldn't be getting sleep for a few weeks.

After a few minutes of proper 'cleaning', Foxtrot and Echo were ready to descend, without any more current distractions, he nodded back towards Alpha one more time, and the elevator began its descent into darkness… "If we don't report back at the first set hour, call off the search to the south-east and send down Charlie and Delta as a second wave, if the second wave ends up not returning at the next set hour, call for reinforcements." he left them with a set of backup order's, can't be too careful.

Eleven Rookies entered the belly of the beast...

Just as they were fifteen feet down the overhead doors automatically closed, as soon as they did, lights began flickering on, unfortunately all the light's on the elevator were drenched in blood, painting the whole area a bitter crimson, needless to say it really put the other's on end, just when he was about to say some encouraging words they pass a vent that was overflowing with the green mist from earlier.

"Oi! See that gas? I betcha most of the facility, if not all of it, has been filled neck deep in this crap… wonder how? Anyway, I saw this stuff exit the elevator when those bodies came up, so I'd keep my mask and suit tight if I were you, a single crack or rip just might be the cause for our ends…"

The other's audibly gulped at his conclusion before they subconsciously started checking themselves over and tightening their gear again… just to be safe… after a full minute of descending they finally hit the bottom floor, waiting to greet them, was a large metal gate keeping them from continuing forward, they cautiously approached, weapons drawn and high on alert, as soon as they got within eight feet from the large metal doors, lights started humming overhead, the sound of a generator kicking on, and the facility waking up… it wasn't too long before the metal doors attempted to open it's gaping maw.

The first thing they was was a security checkpoint, complete with cameras, gates, chemical contamination checkpoints, even metal detectors, sitting on a wall inside was a check-in port, letting everyone know who and what's been in and out of the facility, and when. He walked towards the metal detector, stopped, bent down and pulled the plug, then proceeded forward with slight caution, as soon as he was through the checkpoint and around the barrier's he stumbled on a particularly displeasing sight, it was another metal door, but it was painted red… and within its clamped down maw was a woman's upper body, stopping just where her womb would be… if she was pregnant when whatever happened... happened, then there's no way that baby survived that accidental fucking abortion, no chance in hell… she was wearing a white Hazmat suit, the helmet's light flickering, allowing illumination to her tan skin and soft brown hair… and blood dripping from her jaw (Likely the cause of being crushed in such a brutal fashion), if she had just made it into the elevator she would have most definitely survived

He approached her quietly, the only thing he couldn't keep quiet were his steel toed boots… he had assumed this woman was either fat or pregnant because it looked as though she popped like a balloon, the whole immediate area was painted in intestines and various organs… no, she was definitely not fat, maybe plump before her departure from this world… if you could get passed the fact that she was a corpse and was deathly pale… and only had half a body… 'Oh for fucks sake, you gotta focus Zero.' he shook his gaze away from her, and searched for either another door, or a way through this one.

He took a few seconds to search and immediately saw the door console just on his right, it was a simple piece of panel sticking up from the wall, with a few buttons with different colors, and a level, there was also a light display for the status of the door, the light was a deep red color… apparently the lockdown protocols were enabled, and the only way to get through this door would either be in the form of a welding kit, high level explosives, or an all level access card… the only option he lacked were the explosives, he had both the ladder and the former tools on him for situations just like this.

"Squads, on me!" his muffled voice radioed his comrades, immediately they surrounded the door, but not without doing a double take at the sight of the corpse lodged halfway through the door… "T-this was never part of any of the simulations… I… oh shit…" the one that spoke trembled, apparently sick… for a while the only thing that sounded throughout the entire chamber were the ragged breathing of gas masks, the uncomfortable shifts of armor, and the generator filling up the cold steel room. Zero stood next to the now hyperventilating Trooper and put an arm on his shoulder. "Hey, don't start your shit in here of all places, we have a job to do… you knew what you were signing up for the moment you agreed to this… no backing out now."

"Breath Soul… just breathe, your among family… your armor will protect you from the horrors within these doors, your weapon will fight with the power of destruction, all you need is to clear your head in return for these generous gifts... stick to your training, and we'll all leave here alive… and hopefully in one piece, unlike her." he attempted to console him, and make a joke out of this situation for his sake, luckily this seemed to be the correct course of action, as the breathing had calmed significantly, though it was still unsettled, it wasn't a threat to cause him a heart attack any time soon, after a few seconds of calming breaths he let out a small chuckle at his Officer's dark humor, he had to admit, the joke _was_ just sitting there, waiting to be picked up. 'Just like the remaining pieces of her.' grimly joked the Trooper, attempting to keep himself calm.

Upon hearing his chuckling the other Trooper's laughed uncomfortable, if only to keep the unsettling silence at bay, after they all had a moment to ease themselves into this ever slowing nightmare, Zero walked back over to the panel quietly, he paused, the key card hovering over the slot to lift the lockdown on the door. "Locked?" his voice echoed over the comms, after a hesitant pause, one of the girls stacked up on the door. "Loaded." she confirmed, here gun trained on the door, the other's followed her example and either took to cover behind the barriers, or stack on the door.

The card slid down the slot, the indicator turned green, and the light's surrounding the door's light up with movement, red emergency lights flashing throughout the whole chamber… they watched as the steel maw released the corpse from it's clutches and dropped unceremoniously to the floor with a resounding *Thump* that echoed down the halls of the facility. "Light's up!~" commanded Zero, and immediately all gun and helmet lights went on…

Just to be consumed by the dark atmosphere within. Zero took the lead and rushed through the door and into a much, _much_ larger room, it looked like the whole place was in chaos just before they arrived, lights sparked, benches and tables toppled to their sides to completely destroyed, bullets decorated the walls, if those holes in the walls were anything to go by.

This was only the _hallway_ … he could only imagine what lies deeper inside, aside from the damages, there were yet again _more_ corpses, all of them in the same state as the people from the elevator, their skin blackened, their teeth gone, and gums shriveled and bleeding, bloodshot eyes, with bony black and broken fingers, all in various uniforms…

Judging by the fact that all of the flesh is still sizzling, and blood still dripping and drying… this all happened less than an hour ago, he kept a close eye on anything and everything, personally he had seen enough of this crap for the day, but he had to document everything here to the best of his abilities.

Only just now was he starting to realize how heavy his armor and gear were… how loud he was in the otherwise silent facility with the stomping of boots and ragged breathing of gas masks, with an edge of cautious nerve, he set an even pace into the corridor, the sound of boots on tile painfully loud to his sensitive, yet heavily muffled ears, no thanks to the helmet. His eyes only needed seconds before they were adjusted to the darkness, he was both thankful and frustrated for the gas mask…

"Uh… beggin yer pardon Sir?" he was pulled from his thoughts when one of the Troops, armed with a Western accent, tapped him, he answered. "Yes? What seems to be the problem discount John Wayne?" the Trooper hesitated for a second, as if afraid to speak or offended, when he gestured to the woman from before who was crushed in half, as soon as he saw her he understood, the Trooper voiced their thoughts to the group. "Where do ya reckon the _other half_ of her body might be?" he asked uneasily, by now everyone else noticed the problem here… it wasn't long before they saw a blood trail from the lower half evidently being dragged a few feet down the hallway… and then disappear up into one of the upper vents in the ceiling on the left of the hall…

Everyone let that sink in for a bit when Zero spoke. "Huh… good eye Trooper, we'll make a true Hunter out of you yet… as for my advice for the situation? Steer clear of the vents, until you decide to invest and set some traps… obviously one of those little fuckers are in there…" it quickly became apparent that it wasn't the woman's fault for being cut in half, whatever it was probably slowed her down or pulled her back into the door just as she could have made it… 'She could have survived.' that thought made him promise to find whatever did this to her and mount it's skull as his personal trophy.

...Where was he? Ah yes, while on one hand, he wasn't being exposed to the poisonous depths of the air, it also dulled his senses considerably, the visor restricted part of his full view, his nose numb to the metallic scent of blood that excited him, his touch limited to be nothing more than blunt contact, instead of being able to connect and understand his environment… had he already mentioned than his hearing was restricted to his comms and immediate vicinity too?

The sound of boots moving steadily behind him reminded him that he had family to look after, and that he still needed to lead them, whether he liked it or not. "Alright… Squads, from here on out I want those eyes up and ears open, if you hear so much as a rat shitting in the vents I wanna know about it, nothing will escape us… oh, and in case we somehow separate? I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that, as of now… It's open season for the hunters." he laughed in anticipation, 'licking his chops' if you will and moved swiftly through the gorey halls of the still yet to be named facility.

It wasn't long before the squad had to split up into two groups down different hallways, Foxtrot went towards the hallways marked: 'Storage Bay' while Zero and Echo squad headed towards the: 'Research and Development' Wing, there wasn't really anything new, just plenty of blood stains, the occasional body (which was slowly numbing the previously freaked out Trooper's) and lots of inanimate objects and furniture, the hallway they went down had various posters littering the area, some were advertisements, some propaganda here and there, y'know, the usual 'Big Brother is Watching' kind of stuff, nothing strange there, nothing at all, not in the slightest.

As they approached the rather ordinary looking metal door, they were suddenly put on edge when they heard noise from within, some scratching, some banging… and lots of screaming, no dear reader, I can assure you there isn't any sex happening behind door number one, because that would just freak out the already on edge Troopers… "Safety's off!" ordered their commanding Officer, just as fast as he slid the access card through the slot he burst inside the room, inside, it looked like the room itself was having a tantrum of some sort, pipes were bursting with gas, objects big and small were flying everywhere, the light were flickering and swinging around, and sitting at the heart of the chaos were a pair of _creatures_ that seemed absolutely _livid_ with each other, and I mean utterly _pissed_.

The first creature was as white as bones, it didn't look particularly strong, but it was tall, and its appendages had what looked to be oversized bear paws, the weight of them causing him to slouch and drag his arms behind him, its face looked like it was originally human, but just below the eyes a long bony beak jutted from it's skull, splintering the skin that use to be in place of his lips and mouth… it's eyes were so bloodshot and glazed over, like some sort of dead creature driven purely by instinct… it's eyes looked much like the victims outside of the room… 'What the hell is this thing? It looks like someone was trying to play god here… dear Hestia…'

The other creature seemed to be some sort of crossbreed between a spider and a scorpion… each of its appendages looked sharp, but frail, though it could be reinforced bone tissue, it's hide was a dark brown, and was even covered in fur… maybe it was also cross bred with a porcupine… that sounds really uncomfortable, in terms of sizes the first creature is six and a half feet tall, while the spider was maybe a solid four feet tall… and currently engaged in a very ferocious looking battle.

Echo squad paused for a moment, then looked over to their 'fearless leader', they couldn't tell what his expression was right now, what with the mask and all, but his actions were clear, his hands were quick and fluent, of the few settings on his O.R. Mk.1 (a test weapon to be sure), he selected the quick shock setting. "Echo squad, aim for the head, and subdue them, not kill them… we might even get a reward for this." They did as they were told without hesitance, and took aim. "Fire at will!" and with that, the room light up multiple times as the red on the walls and floor danced with the blues of their rifles, they were about to let up when Zero told them to not let up until they stopped struggling… after a minute of noticing that the creature were still attempting to resist capture, Zero commanded that two of the units fish out their 'leashes', they knew what he was talking about, but if these creatures weren't dropping dead from the amount of hail they were raining on them, they doubted some rope would either.

The creatures had both separated from attacking each other and attempted to either attack or flee, in the spider-scorpions case, flee. The larger, lankier creature took a leap behind a counter while the spider-scorpion skuddled into a nearby shredded vent, shrieking shrilly like some kind of… phantom… upon noticing one of their targets get away, Zero's brow twitched, his first taste at action and one of the two targets that just fell into his lap got away. 'Oh for fucks sake!' he groaned, he supposed it was time to end this now, he pulled out his 'leash' and began to wield it like a whip, it was a non lethal whip, but still dangerous in its own right if given to the right person.

The Mk.1 Leash is a simple weapon, it's essentially the cross between chains, a whip and rope, strong like chains, a bite like a whip, and smooth as rope… another plus is the constant electrical current that could roast people alive, it also glows a bright baby blue because of said electricity… careful when using it, if mishandled it could set the area on fire.

Letting his rifle drop to his side thanks to his sling, he began wielding the 'leash' in his right hand, and started pulling for a grenade with his left, he pulled the pin from said grenade with his left thumb, then tossed it behind the counter on the other side, throwing it so the beast would be forced straight towards him. "Flash out!" he cried, and as soon as the words left his mouth there was a loud *POP* and a snarl from behind the counter, Zero whipped the leash towards the opening of where he knew the creature was gonna come from, and was rewarded when he caught it mid leap around the neck, he gave a quick, strong yank, using the creatures own momentum to hit an overhead lamp _hard_.

The beast screeched in pain and confusion when it felt the pull from his neck wrap around the rest of his body like some sort of snake, it got tighter and tighter, and before he knew it, he wasn't able to move an inch, and when he attempted to struggle? *ZzZZiIIPP* a few jolts of highly concentrated electricity stabbed through him. The Trooper's stopped firing until they heard their leader speak. "I didn't command a cease fire." the other's looked at him in confusion and caution.

"B-but sir, we've already subdued it, there isn't any need to keep firing." the others nodded in agreement, until they were interrupted by the sound of someone obeying his command and opening up on the creature once more. After a few shots left the chamber one of the other Troopers gripped the obeying Trooper's Omni-Rifle in an attempt to stop them from firing. "Runt, what the fuck dude?" asked the offending Trooper, the apparent 'Runt' responded. "Runt is following ze orders of our Leader, Zack, problem?" he spoke in an even tone and a faint French accent. "W-what?" questioned the now named Zack. they were about to continue their argument when Zero stepped in.

"Soul Runt is following orders." Zero spoke in a calm tone, but with an underlying anger for interfering, one that held authority. "Why aren't the rest of you?" 'Zack' immediately challenged back with a question of his own. "Why would we?" Zero responded quickly, in a strong Charismatic tone. "Besides the fact that it's a direct order from a superior Officer? well... It's because this is our job, this is our place in the world, we're not here to be the 'nice guys' we're here as representatives of the _Front Line, to send a Message!_ To make it hell for these beasts."

"To do a job far uglier than other people could handle, weather we like it or not doesn't matter, what does matter is that we must show that we will _not_ relent, that we will _not_ show mercy. We can't show mercy because we can't _afford to_ , we must set an example as the first set of members from S.A.D. and the world and especially our own organisations members that _this_ is our job, we are _quick_ , we are _deadly_ , we are _brutal_ and _efficient_ , but most importantly, we are **Monsters**."

"We don't have time for kindness or love or even a second of hesitation, we work with _**Iron Fists**_ … do you know why? **Look around you**! Do you even know who this facility belongs to? _Us_ , it belongs to us, but thanks to whatever _**Mistake**_ one of these _idiots_ made their all dead now! Have you seen the condition of this place? Seen the condition of the rest of S.A.D.? did you even know they let a fucking Siren into the camp for who knows how long and has done who knows what? One of the very creatures we trained to _Hunt_ our whole lives was hiding among us, right underneath our fucking noses!"

"The same thing happened to these people in this compound! if you can't handle that, then I can reassign you on the Second or even the Third line, hell, I'll even arrange it so that you can have your memories erased and go back to your 'Innocent Life', y'know, the one that doesn't force you _**Hunt and Kill**_ as it's **one** condition for being here… in other words! To set an example! _**We Bring a Declaration of War!**_ "

At the end of his heartfelt speech they were all stunned, they realized they had a burden that they had to carry on their shoulders, but they didn't realize it was _**That Heavy**_ … what they didn't know was that he wasn't telling the whole truth, but just a small tip of the iceberg, to him, all that mattered was that they somewhat understand now, he could have gone on and on about how these creatures killed innocent men, women and children, their friends, their family, everyone and every thing that existed or ever will exist are threatened, and that they needed to be strong for the weak…

Again, he could keep going, but he wasn't that much of a bag of wind, if they do need another speech then he will go into that area, given the chance arises… he continued in an even tone. "If that it indeed what you want, then we'll do that _after_ we complete the mission… but as of right now however, you are still under my command… and I command you…" he trailed off, now looking pointedly at the still struggling beast. "... to finish unloading the rest of your clips into that Target." he finished with a tone of lingering finality.

Little did he know was that everyone who heard him suddenly looked up to him in a new light, one full of respect and admiration, they knew now who they were Loyal to, and even what their purpose in life was, and now they had a new Big Brother/Father figure to look up to, (Even though most of them are older) With a newfound strength and resolve, everyone from this point on started working harder, faster and smarter, to be better, with the goal in mind to aspire to be like Zero, to be acknowledged as his equal and stand beside him, to _be_ Zero.

Another thing they didn't know (Or at least he didn't) was that all comms were on for the entire scene and speech… so not just Echo heard, but _everyone_ heard, or in Alpha and Bravos case _saw_ thanks to the helmet cams connected to the office topside... Finally, without any hesitation, everyone in Echo squad quickly took aim on said 'Target' at point blank, and released the remaining rounds into its head with a firm pull of the trigger… the beast, as Zero had predicted, didn't die, but it did black out from the pain.

"Good, now let's regroup with Foxtrot, and get our prize here into one of the portable holding containers in the dropship topside, after that… we're gonna go for a walk along the vents to greet our new Prey… see if we can't flush em out with a little 'encouragement'." and with that, they left the room, and although unseen, with Sadistic smiles painted across their lips.

 **(A/N: Hey guys, long time no see… or rather read… I kinda left this story on the back burner and was gonna wait til I got a few more reviews, but I decided not to punish my story and allow it to progress, and I've granted myself with the ability to (however brief it may be) write longer chapters, I was originally gonna go through the ceremony business, and the whole 'Meeting the Commandant' thing… but that's where I got some writer's block, so there I was! up to my chest in writer's block, when suddenly I see it, my freedom of the hell… Inspiration! Lol, anyway here's what I have at the moment, all will be told in due time, when 'Zero' does eventually get to gravity falls, that's where the flashbacks will start happening… probably, I never plan anything, I've always just winged it…**

 **I'm still undecided for if I'll give this story away for adoption, but in answer to where I'm leaning towards… the answer's no, sorry but I don't want to trust someone else with my story at the risk of it being neglected, that and I still do want to shape it out to be what I need it to be for it to be what is it… I bet less than half of you who read this will get it through the first read.**

 **With that out of the way, I'm pleased to announce that for the time being I will be continuing this story… we'll see how the other story goes, I may have neglected that one… remember! Reviews mean the world to me, good ones bad ones, I'll take'm… Thank you all for reading, be sure to share your Opinions and Suggestions with me, I appreciate Honesty and Care, ba-byeeeee!~)**

 **(Question of the day: What is your Favorite Flavour of Ice Cream?)**


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